Thanks to heavy rains across the state for the last few days, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco)
imposed only one-hour power cut in many parts of the city on Wednesday following a fall in demand.
Many areas in the city, including Kodambakkam, Villivakkam, Kolathur, Nanganallur and Anna Nagar, witnessed one-hour power cut, against the scheduled two-hour load-shedding, on Wednesday.
Load-shedding in the city and its suburbs had been increased to two hours since October 18 as districts were reeling under power cut of over 16 hours a day.
According to the southern region load dispatch centre’s data, the quantum of load-shedding came down to 21.17 million units on Tuesday from 48.82 MU on October 18.
The total energy demand fell from 179.84 million units on October 18 to 165.54
million units on Tuesday.
Attributing the reduction in the load-shedding duration to the widespread rains, a senior Tangedco official said besides, reduction in the usage of air-conditioners and agricultural pumpsets have brought down the demand considerably.
“The corporation might have saved at least 250 MW to 300 MW through reduction in air-conditioners usage,” the official said.
Another reason for the fall in energy demand was due to closed holidays for high-tension industries for Ayudha Pooja and Vijayadasami, the official told this newspaper.
However, the official said the corporation reduces load-shedding for domestic consumers when demand goes down.
“If the rains stops, the demand will go up. We have no other option but to impose power cuts,” the official pointed out.