The Comptroller Auditor
General (CAG) of India has
reportedly come down heavily
on Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for
its failure in stepping up power
distribution capacity. CAG,
according to the press report,
observed that the number of
electricity consumers in the southern
state increased from 19.06 million in
FY07 to 22.34 million in FY11, and
the connected load from 38,893 MVA
to 53,160 MVA, in the said period.
The report said that against the
ideal ratio of 1:1 between the
connected load and transformation
capacity, the actual ratio ranged only
from 0.60:1 to 0.64:1 between FY07
and FY11, indicating a deficit in
transformation capacity. This in turn
caused overloading of the system
resulting in frequent tripping and
voltage fluctuations.
CAG has estimated that to
augment the transformation
capacity to meet the connected load
of 53,160 MVA (as of March 2011),
around 2.73 lakh distribution
transformers of various capacities
would be required. The report added
that TNEB had no short-term or longterm
plan to procure distribution
transformers on such a large scale.
On a related matter, CAG also
observed that while TNEB had
prepared a plan to add 335 new
substations between FY06 and FY11,
the actual addition was only 235. The
audit body said that there was a delay
ranging from 8 to 53 months.