Tamil Nadu was in a better position today in terms of generating and distributing electricity than what it was a few years ago, Former Secretary to President of India P. Murari, said in Chennai on Friday.

Speaking at the sixth edition of FICCI’s energy conference, the advisor to Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), said that non-conventional and renewable forces of energy needed to bridge the gap between supply and demand of electricity.

“TANGEDCO has met the demand of 13,500 MW of power for the entire State,” Murari said.

He suggested revamping of existing thermal stations apart from increasing their number and also raised concern over the burgeoning demand in power due to a rise in temperature.

“One needs to see how to improve and augment the Discoms as a number of MNCs have cropped up and they have been drawing a lot of power generated by the State,” he said, adding that there was a dire need to think in terms of supplementing the coal requirements of the thermal stations by converting the new stations into oil and gas-fetched stations.

Questioning the logic behind providing free power to rich farmers, Murari suggested bringing in a differential tariff system for agriculturalists and farmers based on their income as against providing free electricity to farmers who earned a fairly good income.

Elaborating on that, he said farmers who possessed more than five acres of land need not be provided free power.

“One can think in terms of providing free power to farmers who are marginalised”.