Getting the kids and spouses ready in the morning is no mean task for any homemaker.
A complicated task as it were, load shedding in the morning hours is throwing a spanner in their works. Compounding their difficulties is the recent move of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to increase the load shedding by an hour making it three hours every day.
Many residents in the city and the district say the load shedding is being effected well beyond the scheduled hours in durations varying between ten minutes and one hour.
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According to S. Jeyalakshmi, a housewife residing at West Masi Street, unscheduled load shedding occurs at least three times a day. Sometimes, frequent voltage fluctuations pose a threat to prized electronic equipment such as refridgerators and televisions.
“The earlier two hours were manageable. Now, three hours is very tough on us, particularly the aged and elderly who find it extremely difficult without fans,” she says.
According to K. Ramamoorthy, an advocate at Tirumangalam, the incessant load shedding has greatly affecting the children's studies. Vital house chores have also been affected.
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“I usually type the court matter between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., which is not possible now as we have load shedding from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. We are unable to plan any work at all these days,” he says.
Top officials of the TNEB have stated that the additional load shedding lasting for durations ranging up to half-hour or more, were being undertaken to “maintain grid security.”
These measures have been necessitated owing to the drop in power generation through wind sources to 20 MW from the earlier levels between 1,500 MW to 2,000 MW. This was only to be expected as windy season was to have ended by September, says a TNEB official.