Sleepless & sweaty in summer

CHENNAI: Residents in the southern suburbs of the city lament over the frequent power cuts and voltage fluctuations at night which has damaged electrical equipment like AC, air coolers and fans.

Fast-developing residential areas like Tambaram, Chromepet, Pallavaram, Pammal, Anakaputhur, Sembakkam, Perungalathur, Vandalur, Urapakkam and Madambakkam have been facing power-related issues for the last 2 years.

“Until two years ago, the situation was better. There were not so many power cuts during summer time,” claim residents. The situation is dire especially when you consider the number of city-dwellers who have been settling in the suburbs and the innumerable factories that have opened their doors in the locality.

While the population had increased at least by 10-20%, the consumption of electricity in houses had also surged in the localities. “The summer demand, along with the surge in the number of new apartments and buildings, has made life difficult for residents of Tambaram corporation,” said AIADMK councillor Star Prabha. “Due to frequent power cuts all day and voltage fluctuations, residents often complain about short circuits and damage to their electrical appliances. They spend thousands on repairing them.”

Andrew from Tambaram said: “We purchased a new LED TV a few months ago. Due to EB issues, the motherboard got damaged so badly that it was beyond repair. The replacement of the board is almost 75% of the TV’s original cost. Even laptop chargers and other home appliances have been damaged due to frequent voltage fluctuations.”

Another resident near Tambaram said that within a week, the AC and refrigerator had stopped working due to the voltage problem. “At night, power cuts happen at least 2-3 times within an hour. Sometimes, the power interruption is more than five times,” rued a resident.

Residents also pointed out that frequent power cuts disturbed their sleep routine, which affected their work. “Tangedco should have known that almost all homes would use ACs and air coolers in summer, and prepare for contingencies,” opined a resident.

Sources from the electricity department said there were a few issues in supplying power due to a transformer failure in Madambakkam. “Now the fault has been rectified and we’re trying to provide uninterrupted power. Sometimes we need to do a power changeover due to overload during summer. Because of that, the public might have experienced power cuts in a short period. We’re looking into public complaints and short term and long term solutions are on the way,” said a senior Tangedco official.