Long night-time power cuts disrupt domestic routines

Chennai: From lack of sleep to difficulty in cooking, frequent, unannounced and prolonged power cuts over the past 20 days have disrupted the daily routine of residents across Chennai and its suburbs. What began as short interruptions lasting for five to 10 minutes a few weeks ago has now turned into outages lasting several hours in many neighbourhoods. Residents said the supply is being disrupted without prior notice.

On Tuesday night, power supply in Choolaimedu was disrupted at around 11.30pm and restored only at 3am. Residents said the outage affected thousands of people in the area .M Aravind Srinivasan, who lives in a paying guest facility in Choolaimedu and works at a law firm in Alwarpet, said the lack of sleep is affecting his work schedule.

Parents with young children said the outages have made their lives difficult. “I have two children, including a six-month-old. I spend hours every night trying to keep them comfortable when the power goes off. Earlier, the electricity board informed us about maintenance work, but now we are clueless about supply restoration,” said Matilda Josephine, a resident of Purasawalkam.

Residents in suburban areas said the situation has also affected cooking. Amid LPG crisis , many households have shifted to induction stoves. But during power cuts, they are unable to cook.

T Sadagopan, president of the Tamil Nadu progressive consumer welfare association, said, “Power supply is often disrupted around 6am and restored only after 8.30am. These are important hours for students and office-goers. Families using induction stoves are unable to prepare food during this period,” he said.

In Ambedkar Colony, residents said power restoration timings remain uncertain. “Sometimes supply returns within 15 minutes, but at other times it takes up to three hours. We do not receive clear information when we contact officials,” said resident M Nalini.

When contacted, J Radhakrishan, TNPDCL chairman and managing director, told TOI: “The major causes for interruption in power supply are distribution transformer failures, feeder trippings, ring main unit failures and substation equipment failures. To monitor the power supply and disruption, we have set up 10 teams across the city limits. Necessary actions will be taken to restore proper supply to all areas.”