CHENNAI: With the onset of the month of ‘Aadi’, it’s celebration time in local temples replete with booming audio systems and blinking serial lights. However, residents in the locality are a worried lot with rampant voltage fluctuations during this time, said to be caused due to the additional electrical load consumed.
A resident of DABC layout in Menambedu in Ambattur said that fluctuations have persisted for a week now, damaging his air conditioner.
“The circuit is said to be damaged due to low voltage, despite having a stabiliser installed,” he said.
The Aadi celebrations, that correspond to the months of July-August, are especially in full swing in Amman temples.
Residents said that the voltage sometimes dropped to 140V, usually below the built-in voltage tolerance of many appliances. The residential service is at 230V in countries like India.
Sarveswaran K, a resident of Soliamman Koil Cross Street in Ayanavaram, said that most homes choose not to run domestic appliances for fear of damage.
“Now that the temperature has gone up again, everyone uses ACs at night and this, combined with the added load of the temple celebrations, leads to such a problem. It forces us to sleep without ACs because we don’t want to damage them,” he said.
Selvi A of Ambattur has a similar grouse. “The transformer in our locality is already overloaded and, sometimes, domestic appliances like washing machines do not run at all,” she said.
In response, a senior TANGEDCO official said that it was common in the case of political meetings where power is illegally tapped for unauthorised use but that many relatively large temples now rent private generator sets.
“The voltage fluctuations could be because of increased use of air conditioners at nights,” he said.