While the temperature has been rising over the 40-degree-Celsius mark in the city this June, power cuts have made life harder.
Shutdowns in supply have risen in frequency during the past two days with the electricity infrastructure being stretched to its limits. A spike in demand is primarily responsible for the tripping power in the city, officials say.
Residents of several localities have been facing sleepless nights because of the ‘unscheduled’ disruptions during the nights. Many localities are not only facing power cuts but low voltage fluctuations too, which wreck havoc on electrical equipment.
Besant Nagar, Kodambakkam, Mogappair, T. Nagar, Velachery, Seven Wells, Anna Nagar and Shenoy Nagar, among other localities, have been experiencing power cuts during night-time.
Narayanan, a resident of Saligramam, said that during the past one week, the power had gone exactly at 11 p.m., and though it was restored within an hour, disruptions continued in an intermittent manner throughout the night.
Residents of localities in the outskirts of south Chennai, including Rajakilpakkam, Gowriwakkam and Sembakkam, are also suffering due to power shutdowns and low-voltage conditions.
A few days ago, a power shutdown at Chennai airport caused hardship to hundreds of passengers as conveyor belts failed to function, thus delaying flights.
S. Gandhi, president, Power Engineers Society of Tamil Nadu, citing data from the State Load Despatch Centre, said the consumption on Tuesday hit an all-time high at 292.23 million units (MU) and the demand was even higher at 13,665 mega watt (MW). Steps taken to remove the restriction and control measures for high-tension consumers could be blamed for the blackouts, he said.
He added that dependence on ‘infirm’ wind power and a lack of study for demand-side management would pose supply problems even in the future.
A senior Tangedco official, while maintaining that power cuts were not occurring all over the city, said the abnormal increase in temperature had hiked the demand due to heavy use of air-conditioners. In order to protect the electricity infrastructure from serious damage, and resulting long power outages, the company was forced to restrict the power supply.
The official said massive infrastructure improvement was being planned for the city, with 25 substations to be commissioned shortly, including at Guindy and Alandur. Strengthening of the feeder network, to be executed under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme, would address the problems in power distribution, he added.
Meanwhile, consumers are also fuming at the poor feedback from the Fuse Off Call (FOC) centres and the computerised call centre. Residents point out that they are unable to make complaints as the 1912 helpline is almost always engaged and the FOCs are non-functional.
(With additional reporting by T. Ramakrishnan, T. Madhavan and Sunitha Sekar)
