For residents in many parts of the city already reeling under the sweltering summer heat, unscheduled power cuts add to their misery. Consumers from many parts of the city have been complaining of such cuts for a week.
On Sunday evening, power supply was suspended for nearly an hour in several parts of north Chennai, including Kilpauk, Purasawalkam, Vepery, Sowcarpet, Choolai, Broadway and Park Town.
“Sunday’s unscheduled power cut was a massive one covering several neighbourhoods,” said K. Santhosh, a resident of Kilpauk.
In recent days, residents in the Tambaram region served by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) have been facing unscheduled power cuts.
On April 21, power outages were reported from Selaiyur, Sembakkam, Rajakilpakkam, Gowriwakkam and Kamarajapuram. However, consumers could not reach their Fuse of Call office or substations as the phone numbers were ‘always engaged.’
And then, on the night of April 24, disruption in electricity supply was reported from Chromepet and Chitlapakkam. For residents of Chromepet, including areas like Nehru Nagar, these unannounced power cuts have become regular for the past many days. It starts around 11 p.m. in Nehru Nagar and is restored only after midnight.
In fact, on Monday, residents here witnessed erratic power supply since morning and the supply was restored late in the day. “The phones at the Tangedco office are kept off the hook till the supply resumes,” complained S. Vimala, a resident of Chromepet.
Likewise, areas in city outskirts such as Mittanamalli in Avadi have been witnessing unscheduled power cuts for more than a week now, especially at night. Unscheduled power cuts have also been reported from other areas in Avadi, including Kamaraj Nagar, IAF and Muthapudupet.
Tangedco officials said that in addition to overheating power cables, transformers too were regularly developing snags due to the load. One of the major factors contributing to the excess load and bursting of transformers is the increasing use of air-conditioners and air coolers, especially during night. However, they said that such faults were being attended to at the earliest.
