CHENNAI: As peak summer scorches the city, many inner and peripheral parts of Chennai have been experiencing low-voltage problems. Some areas have been facing brief power cuts regularly, residents say.
They said that from April, ever since the use of air conditioners shot up, low-voltage problems persisted for 30 minutes to one hour. Some peripheral areas in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts face brief power cuts, but residents said power is restored immediately after.
Parts of core areas like Avadi, Perambur, Nanganallur, Adambakkam, Pallikaranai, Madipakkam, Medavakkam, Perungudi, Annanagar and Alwarpet and peripheral areas such as Guduvanchery, Irumbuliyur in West Tambaram, Alapakkam, Kundrathur, and Hasthinapuram in Chromepet face these issues.
One such case where low-voltage problem has cost residents even drinking water is Polivakkam in Tiruvallur. Locals said they have been suffering because of power supply at low voltage ever since 2017 and it has worsened this summer. As motors attached to borewells malfunction due to low voltage, residents are unable to draw water frequently.
“Though we have submitted multiple petitions over the years to local Tangedco officials attached to Manavalanagar distribution circle and senior officials from Kancheepuram division, we have not got a solution to this problem. Expensive electronic gadgets get extensively damaged due to low voltage and cannot be repaired,” said a member from Tiruvallur Residents Welfare Association.
Though the scenario is much better in inner parts of the city, cases of low voltage and power cuts still prevail here. Soumya Sankaran of Puzhuthivakkam said that for the last one week power cuts lasted about an hour especially at night.
“We have an extraordinary relationship with electricity that whenever we are about to sleep there is a power cut. Sometimes it lasts only 15 minutes and in some cases even an hour and a half. Nowadays this occurs at night also. Also, we experience low voltage just before the power goes off,” she said.
Tangedco officials said they are trying to minimise even brief power cuts and added that routine power shutdown for maintenance has been stopped and will be resumed only after June. Last week power shutdown for maintenance at Sholinganallur lasted almost 12 hours.
“Low voltage occurs mainly due to connection of LT lines. And as the distance between the main power source and an individual connection is more in peripheral areas, low voltage is more prevalent there than in city areas. But, now we are installing more 11 KV feeder lines to avoid this problem. But, we are getting enough supply to match the demand, hence riding through summer will be an easy affair now when compared to four years ago,” said a senior Tangedco official.