TIRUCHY: A sharp spike in electricity demand to around 550 MW amid soaring temperatures over the past three weeks has triggered power disruptions across Tiruchy district, with officials citing load shedding as the reason. This triggered protests from villagers along the Dindigul-Tiruchy-Manapparai road on Friday evening.
Over 200 villagers of Chatrapatti, Ariyavur, and Ammapettai blocked traffic for nearly two hours between 7.30 pm and 9.30 pm, alleging frequent night-time outages over the past week. Villagers demanding immediate restoration of regular power supply.
Officials from the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited and the police later pacified the protesters, assuring that the issue would be resolved within a day or two.
This was not the first such protest over power disruptions in Tiruchy. On September 4, around 50 villagers blocked the Tiruchy- Karur highways at Pettavaithalai over power cuts in their area. The protest disrupted vehicular movement, with Commuters travelling from Chennai and northern districts like Dindigul and Theni for the Vinayagar Chaturthi weekend were also impacted.
According to residents, power cuts lasting up to two hours have been occurring at night, severely affecting daily life. “The outages are frequent and unpredictable, especially at night,” said T Manivannan of Chatrapatti. The issue is not isolated. Several rural areas, including Manapparai, Musiri, Thuraiyur and Manachanallur, have reported intermittent disruptions, though mostly for shorter durations.
Thuraiyur MLA and Deputy Speaker M Ravisankar termed the complaints “politically motivated.” However, senior TNPDCL officials acknowledged that disruptions have occurred, attributing them to load shedding necessitated by rising demand.
Load shedding refers to the controlled shutdown of electricity supply in select areas to prevent the grid from overloading when demand exceeds availability. Officials said the recent dip in wind energy generation–a key power source for the state–along with increased consumption due to rising temperatures has put pressure on supply. Official sources said that TNPDCL had handled 600 MW demand during the peak summer in May 206.
The demand surge follows an intense heat spell in the district. Tiruchy recorded 40.7°C on September 5, breaking a 97-year-old September record of 40.6°C set in 1929, according to IMD data. Power demand has climbed back to near-summer levels, crossing 550 MW after falling to around 475 MW in early August.
Even in the city, residents of Palakarai, Ponnagar, Karumandapam and KK Nagar have reported voltage fluctuations and brief outages lasting 5-10 minutes during night hours.While some protesters alleged that supply was being diverted to urban areas at the cost of rural regions, TNPDCL officials denied the claim.
“Load shedding is being carried out across both rural and urban areas as demand has increased everywhere. There was only one instance of a two-hour outage; on other days, disruptions were under 20 minutes,” a senior official said.