Several parts of the State are, of late, experiencing longer duration of load shedding.
Officially, parts of the State other than Chennai are to have two-hour load shedding. However, reports from different regions point to the increase in the duration, ranging from six to eight hours.
A senior TANGEDCO official in Chennai acknowledges that the duration of unscheduled load shedding is around two-and-a-half hours apart from the two-hour load shedding. This was due to a “surge in demand” and the decision to restrict power purchase from private sources because of the poor financial condition of the Corporation. The State faced a shortage of 3,000 MW.
Bids have been floated for the purchase of 450 megawatt (MW) for a period of five months under Case 1 to meet the base load requirements of the State. The last date for submission of tender documents is February 18.
With the duration of load-shedding touching eight hours, the anguish among various sections of the industry in Coimbatore and other districts of the western region is beginning to manifest in various forms of protest.
After a demonstration by members of the Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises (TACT) on Tuesday, the Coimbatore-Tirupur District Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs Association (COTMA) members held a protest in front of the TANGEDCO's Chief Engineer on Wednesday. At a meeting in the evening, the TACT decided that its members units would display black flags as a mark of protest over the power situation.
In a memorandum to the TANGEDCO, the TACT pointed out that over 30,000 tiny and cottage units were affected by the power situation. The Tirupur knitwear industry has also been severely affected.
K.M. Sundar, secretary of a residents association in Madurai, refers to the plight of the students, by narrating how his son is having problems in preparing for the public examinations.
C. Muthuraman, secretary of Kappalur Industrial Estate Manufacturers' Association [Madurai], representing around 300 small units that are employing 12,000 workers, says that the power situation had worsened considerably in the last two days.
S. Pushpavanam, secretary of the Consumer Protection Council, Tiruchi, feels that the situation has gone from bad to worse. He said immediate steps should be taken to commission the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
[With inputs from R. Srikanth in Chennai, V.S. Palaniappan in Coimbatore, R. Sairam in Madurai and S. Ganesan in Tiruchi]
Keywords: load shedding, Tamil Nadu power crisis
Our citizens complicate situations due to short sightedness. It is well known that electrical power is one essential ingredient of our lives.We experience the frequent rise in petrol, diesel cost due to international prices and coal rresources are not available to operate our thermal plants at full capacity.Tamil Nadu has given excellent support in promoting the nuclear power plants initially at Kalpakkam and later at Kudankulam. The two units of Madras Atomic Power station are steadily delivering 75% share of 440 Mwe contributing significantly to the prosperity of Tamil Nadu. There is tremondous prosperity in and around Kalpakkam due to the Department of Atomic Energy facilities. All investments of atomic power plants are totally funded by central govt.T.N should immediately facilitate start Kudankulam plant to reduce the power shortage without any delay.
why should the common people suffer due to dirty politics..it is
disgusting, frustrating. I am sure the sales of UPS must have shot up.
How will the students study?? How will we work in such conditions? Why
should be pay tax to the government when we are not even getting basic
electricity? Who needs mixers and grinders and tvs when we dont even
have electricity to use them? Sick government...They must be living in
luxury in AC and what not when we commoners suffer..
It is high time for the TN Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) to take a more a pro-active role in ushering-in the market-oriented electricity sector reforms.The current state of the sector is hardly conducive for private/public sector investments. TNEB( both TANGEDCO and TANTRANSCO) must be professionally directed with little political interference.
First off, the price of electricity should be de-politicized and linked to input costs(like fuel, operations costs etc.). Secondly,private IPPs must be given a level playing field to invest in the generation market (through long-term contracts). Thirdly, there is a urgent need to cut down on transmission losses and power thefts (from present losses at ~40% to a benchmark figure of 10% that is prevalent in developed countries).
we can blame politician and the government all our life but they are not gonna change in near future. I started to believe in "Change from within" philosophy recently, when blaming govt is not helping. What I don't understand is two things, 1. Why is Kudankulam project protested? If country like Japan, Germany are closing their nuclear plant, they are small nation with other sources of energy. Like some scientist explained in a debate on Kudankulam, the research on nuclear energy and space exploration are the man's best research work for now. 2. How does people (even educated) believed in Govt. promise to provide uninterrupted power. Like my mom says in tamil, "satila irunda daney appila varum".... I live in US too, and I hate to compare US with India, there is world of difference between the foundations of the two nations.
I don't think generating power is a big deal in 21st century.But it is the cost that matters. Generating power in large quantity by public sector would always be cheaper than private producers. But the rality is govt. cannot produce as much we need simply because the cost of subsidy. One thing the govt. and public should understand that the inverters, batteries and generators are not the cost effective way to combat the need for power.So we have to accept that if we need uninterrupted power supply it has to cost a bit more.So it is the right time the private providers should be allowed in the power supply as it is the case in developed country. Atleast those who can afford will be able to get uninterrupted power at a cost less than the current generator and invertors.I don;t think govt. can deny the right of the middle class to enjoy an uninterrupted power in the modern world.
i am doing my plus two examinations and i am very much affected due to the shedding of power for atleast 8 hours a day which affects my mental strain and my preparation for practical exams and public exams , what is the boards action and people at top are doing instead of increasing the hike in unit rates first of all see that you can provide power supply without any interupption then you have the genuine reason to raise the prices
let our younger generation can do their exams well and score high marks for thier future livelihood
Who knows what will come before the Sankarankoil by-election? Be ready to take advantage of another announcement by the government of freebies like inverters, portable gensets at subsidised rates or another subsidy announcement on diesel or kerosene to run the same. Whatever hardship comes we are ready to be there in the Q to avail the freebies and the give politicians the undue advantage they are aiming for.
When the rest of the state is under severe power shortage and experience power cut for more than 10 hours a day, why is not Chennai sharing a part of the load. Chennai enjoys power cut for just an hour whereas the rest of the state ranging from 10 to 12 hours a day. Is it because the rest of the state is blind? Really pity the students who are preparing for their exams. Not every parent is privileged to provide inverter at home. These power hungry politicians keep blaming each other but no one is ready to look at the welfare of the public. Each govt provided a whole bunch of freebies, what use is a TV, grinder, laptop or mixie without electricity. Had the govts channelized these funds to sort out these basic issues the situation would not be very worse.
Over the years, our polity has fallen prey to election promises with new connections being doled out without any consideration of generation capacity. The current situation is an end result bad planning by our ruling elite. Everyone needs power. Why is it that TANGEDCO (earlier TNEB) not been planning better? They are aware of the promises made by their masters.
Do I read this article saying that everyone else will suffer while Chennai the seat of ALL power will go scot free?
Activate Kudankulam immediately so we can get 2000 MW in a week time.
This power problem is a perennial one in India. Talking to my Dad who lives in our farm 50 miles south of Madurai I understand it is impossible to say when the power will go and when it will come back. It’s been 22 years since i have taken US as my adopted home and living here in California we have just a few times, I can say probably 6 to 9 times have witnessed a short break, may be 3 to 5 minutes max when we had the earthquakes; even than it was done for safety purposes. Once or twice we had load shedding as they call it here when we had unusual hot summer days when we were advised to use power diligently, that is we were asked to turn the lights or any power using devices that were not needed. I think the blame game in India will not get us anywhere. Governments may come and go, but this problem has not been addressed so far and there is no light at the end of this tunnel. We as the people should join hands and turn a new leaf, I mean enter the arena of green energy. Definitely we as people, as a village, as a colony, as a township as a co-opt can get small wind mills, get the 2nd generation solar panels, use the available natural gas including gobar gas (we have it in our farm) and use it captively for the small groups and be successful. This is an investment and I for one think it is a necessary investment.
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