Prolonged power cuts amid rising heat make nights miserable in Chennai

Chennai: As nights get hotter, many city neighbourhoods report prolonged power cuts over the past few days. For the second consecutive day, Chennai’s temperature crossed 40C on Thursday. This affected the city’s power demand, which surged beyond 4,800MW for the first time, breaching the previous record of 4,769MW in 2024.

Residents of Villivakkam, Kodungaiyur, Nandambakkam, Velachery, Madipakkam, Thiruvanmiyur, and Tiruvottiyur complained of power cuts that lasted for up to four hours on Wednesday night and Thursday, while peripheral areas such as Muttukadu, Pattabiram and Ponneri complained of powercuts that lasted nearly the entire night.

Arun Prakash of Villivakkam said power supply was interrupted around 4.30am on Thursday and restored around 8.40am. S Kannan of Nandambakkam said there were several power cuts at night, with no one at the local section office to raise a complaint to. In Tiruvottiyur, residents thronged the section office on Thursday morning after a night without electricity. Mohammed Yusuf, of Madipakkam, said children could not sleep. “PM Modi is asking employees to work from home, but power supply has been unreliable,” he said.

The power cuts continued in different areas on Thursday as well, but TNPDCL officials said their rapid response teams were on the field to attend faults in the network and restore power supply. “At Royapuram, the trouble was with an underground cable, while a 33kV substation reported a fault at Alandur. Similarly, a 250kVA transformer fault-tripped at Semmanchery, interrupting supply to surrounding areas. Most issues have been resolved,” he said.

Electricity minister C T R Nirmal Kumar on Thursday said the complaints received via Minnagam, social media and WhatsApp were addressed immediately, with a clear response to consumers regarding the fault and approximate restoration period. “Soon, the reporting system will be made more interactive to keep consumers informed. Work for the same is underway,” he said.