The State will not be burdened with any tariff revision, including the annual revision of 3.57% this year, said Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister R. Nirmalkumar on Thursday (June 25, 2026).
Mr. Nirmalkumar, while presenting a White Paper on the status of the Tamil Nadu electricity department, said the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL), Tamil Nadu Power Generation Corporation Limited (TNPGCL), Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Limited (TNGECL), and TANTRANSCO have sustained heavy losses, with the total debt of the four corporations standing at ₹2.47 lakh crore. The erstwhile Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), which was bifurcated into TANGEDCO and TANTRANSCO in 2010, was further restructured into four corporations in 2024. The report highlighted deficiencies in electricity infrastructure, power generation, and manpower, and stressed the need to replace ageing transmission and distribution infrastructure.
The Electricity Minister said the White Paper was presented to show that the tariff revision implemented by the previous government in 2022, which led to a spike in electricity charges for all categories of consumers, benefited neither the electricity department nor the consumers, as substantial expenditure was incurred on power purchase agreements.
Own-power sources
Mr. Nirmalkumar highlighted that the State, whose peak power demand stood at more than 21,300 MW, has only 3,495 MW of generation capacity from its own sources, comprising 2,965 MW of thermal power, 381 MW of hydropower, and 149 MW of gas-based power. He said previous governments, instead of investing in own-power sources, had met power demand through electricity procured from Central generating stations, solar power (at ₹6.11 per unit), long-term power purchase arrangements, and short-term power purchases.
He said: “Heavy expenses were incurred on power purchases to meet peak demand while buying from the exchange market, where prices, at times, touched ₹17 per unit.” He added that the electricity department had planned to save ₹215 crore in the coming years through a new arrangement involving long- and medium-term open-access mechanisms.
Power infra
Mr. Nirmalkumar pointed out that of the four major thermal power projects announced several years ago — Ennore SEZ (2×660 MW), Udangudi Stage-I (2×660 MW), ETPS Expansion (660 MW) and Uppur (2×800 MW) — only the Ennore SEZ and Udangudi projects are currently in progress. He said the previous government had discontinued the other two projects after spending more than ₹8,700 crore on them, without citing any reason.
On the transmission and distribution infrastructure front, the Electricity Minister said that though good revenue was generated through the tariff revision, the previous government had failed to establish new substations. Mr. Nirmalkumar said that during the AIADMK regime from 2016 to 2021, a total of 359 substations of various capacities, including 400 kV, 230 kV, and 110 kV, were commissioned. However, during the subsequent government between 2021 and 2026, only 122 substations were commissioned.
He said, “Although nearly 99,573 new distribution transformers were installed by the previous government, a major scam in the procurement of 45,800 distribution transformers has come to light, and the case is under investigation.”
Manpower shortage
On the staffing front, the electricity department faces a manpower shortfall of nearly 45% against its sanctioned strength of 1,40,635 employees. At present, the workforce stands at 74,714, leaving 65,921 vacancies. The Electricity Minister said that the acute shortage of personnel in key categories such as wiremen, linemen, and gangmen was bound to cause delays in restoring power supply after disruptions, providing new electricity connections, and carrying out other operational works.
Acting on the directions of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to revamp the electricity department, Mr. Nirmalkumar said he had proposed the recruitment of 15,000 personnel this year and the absorption of 5,391 gangmen who were recruited by the previous government but whose appointments were kept in abeyance.
On the infrastructure front, he said it had been proposed to renovate 682 substations at a cost of ₹8,318 crore, expedite work on the 121 substations currently under construction, and establish 231 new substations in the future.
Published – June 25, 2026 04:19 pm IST
