Power supply interruptions return to haunt citizens

Visakhapatnam: As the maximum temperatures shoot up gradually, power consumption is simultaneously increasing in the city as a result of which supply interruptions like 'breakdowns' and 'low-voltages' have returned to haunt consumers.

Officials from the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF), which was set up in January 2005, are receiving two to three complaints daily regarding low voltage and power breakdowns, admitted a senior CGRF official.

Officials attribute the rise in breakdowns and low-voltage problems to overloading and sudden increase of the power consumption by consumers, particularly domestic consumers.

According to AP Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL), the average day consumption of electricity increased to 16.84 million units in Visakhapatnam circle in March against the 14.23 MU in the same month last year. Besides, the discom registered power consumption of 5,288.22 MU from April 1 to March 20 this fiscal compared with power consumption of 4,857.13 MU from April 1 to March 31 last year.

As the mercury soars in the city, people are excessively using appliances like ACs and coolers, said a senior APEPDCL official. "This resulted in increase in the load on the 150 electricity feeders in the city. Besides, nearly 2,000 consumers were added this year," the officer said.

"Some flats in our apartment witnessed power supply interruptions and low voltage problems at around 11 pm to 12.30 am on Wednesday. The problem was resolved after some technical repairs by the electricity staff at the distribution system," said T Koteswara Rao, secretary of Princes Apartments Owners Welfare Association at Sivajipalem.

"We were surprised to see high load on our electricity feeders in slum areas of the city as well. The reason is use of ACs in maximum houses. However, we are regularly monitoring the situation in order to ensure that power is supplied without any interruptions such as breakdowns or low voltages. In fact, we hardly face low-voltage problems in the city as the number of sub-stations has increased and another 14 sub-stations are going to be added in the city," Visakhapatnam circle superintending engineer M Satyanarayana Murthy said.

Murthy said consumers should lodge a formal complaint about power supply issues or interruptions to the discom for speedy restoration.

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