As per TNEB reports, the peak demand on April 29 was 15,343 MW. At the beginning of this month, the peak was only 14,322 MW.

Chennai: A record demand coupled with a major infrastructure fault unleashed the biggest suffering of 2016 so far on Chennaiites as the city suffocated without power for over seven hours on Saturday.

South Chennai was the worst hit with localities like R.A. Puram, Abhiramapuram, Mylapore, Besant Nagar, places along OMR and ECR like Perungudi, Taramani and Neelankarai being at the receiving end. Electricity board officials put the blame on Taramani 230 KV sub station where three feeder lines broke. “Corona discharge was excessive and this led to a jumper cut. The problem was due to overheating caused by rise in humidity. We have attended to the temporary problem,” said a TNEB spokesperson.

Infrastructure damage was recorded in North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS). The feeder lines running out of it were also reportedly affected.