Tamil Nadu Energy Resources and Law Minister R Nirmal Kumar has announced a broad overhaul of the state’s power infrastructure to reduce disruptions during the monsoon and periods of peak summer demand. The programme covers Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram, with work focused on distribution equipment, emergency response and field staffing.

About 15,000 pillar boxes have been identified for raising to prevent water ingress, with nearly 1,000 locations already completed following civic body recommendations. Another 1,000 transformers aged between 20 and 25 years will be replaced in phases, in addition to 600 units identified earlier. Night patrolling and breakdown response have been strengthened through 55 new vehicles, supplementing an existing fleet of 97 vehicles.

The department has approved the induction of 5,000 personnel to address shortages in field operations. Nearly 2,600 contractual workers have been trained and deployed for overnight breakdown duties, while another 2,400 are scheduled to join within a week. Circle-wise open tenders will replace undocumented ad hoc hiring, and permanent recruitment is being pursued through formal service commission procedures. Nearly 1,800 candidates are awaiting physical tests, while financial clearance is pending for a further 5,000 field assistant posts through the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission.

Work on the long-pending 400 kV substation at Guindy, initiated in 2017, is being accelerated to ease load constraints in the surrounding area. Tenders have been floated for 97 of an estimated 600 substations required statewide. The tendering process for smart meters is likely to be deferred by two months so that revisions can require consumer data to remain on electricity board servers instead of private cloud infrastructure and mandate eSIM technology. Fresh renewable energy project approvals have also been kept in abeyance pending the launch of a comprehensive battery storage policy, while more than 45 tenders involving suspected irregularities are under inquiry.