CHENNAI: It is that time of the year when the air-conditioner becomes a Chennaiite’s best friend, and the resultant spike in the electricity bill is but a small price to pay in the battle against sweaty afternoons.
What makes it easier for those who can afford such a cooling luxury is that Chennai continues to have uninterrupted power, even as the rest of the State faces a few hours of power cuts.
But the insatiable demand for Chennai’s air-conditioners seems set to grow at the same rate as it has over the past few years.
The daily demand for electricity for Chennai is expected to settle around 13700 MW. The rise in demand had been muted in the early part of the searing kathiri veyil season, thanks to the on-and-off rains that cooled the city a bit.
Officials of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), the commercial front of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, said Chennai’s continuing growth had meant that the demand for power can only grow faster.
“The pick up in demand has been slow this year. That is because of the rains in the early part of the agni nakshatram season. This spike in demand is fully weather-based. So, the unexpected rains had kept the demand down. But, there is no doubt that the demand will peak, and it will rise to a level higher than last year’s peak demand in May,” said a senior TANGEDCO official.
The peak demand for the month of May has been 13,021 MW in 2013, 12,396 MW in 2012, 11,624 MW in 2011, 11,110 MW in 2010 and 9,893 MW in 2009.
“We usually see a five per cent increase in the peak demand each year. And 2014 is not going to be an exception,” said the TANGEDCO official.
Chennai’s peak demand has stuck to growing around five per cent each year, except for 2010. It had registered a 12.3 per cent rise in that year, as the State’s electricity bodies were reorganised and the Chennai circle was expanded.
Another official also explained that the State government is in a state of complete preparedness to ensure that the rise in demand will be met comfortably.
“We have made preparations to ensure that there is no increase in power cuts because of higher demand during the summer. We have even kept maintenance cuts to as minimum a level as possible. An improved supply situation is helping greatly in this regard,” said the official.