CHENNAI: The State government said in its energy department policy note on Tuesday that the number of power consumers in the State increased from 316.38 lakh to 324.54 lakh during financial year 2021-22.
During the period, 26 new substations (each 33 kV) were established; 10 substations augmented; 10,258.75 km of low-tension lines and 6,429.83 km of high-tension lines were laid; and 24,036 distribution transformers were installed.
Moreover, 9.91 lakh consumers were given new service connections. After adjusting the number of connections withdrawn, the net rise in power consumers during 2021-22 is 8.16 lakh. In 2022, the daily average consumption of the State is likely to be around 340 Million Units (MU) and the maximum daily consumption so far was 375.70 MU on March 29.
This would increase to 385 MU during peak summer. The peak demand experienced by the State for 2021-22 was 17,196 MegaWatt (MW). Tangedco expects it would reach around 24,000 MW over the next 10 years. Tangedco has proposed to add a capacity of 6,220 MW to the grid over the next five years.