Power demand hits new high in Gurugram

On Friday, when the city’s day time temperature touched a high of 46°Celsius, the city consumed 3.01 crore electricity units, the highest this season. The IMD forecasts that the heat wave will likely worsen this week, and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has said the maximum consumption could go up to 3.50 crore units.

Last June, the city consumed a highest of 3.35 crore units.

As the electricity consumption touches a new peak in the city, many parts of the city continued to reel under the effect of erratic power supply exposing the chinks in its crumbling power infrastructure.

Privately developed colonies, such as Palam Vihar and Sushant Lok, and Sectors 22, 23, 27 and 37, DLF 3 and New Palam Vihar, among others have been battling erratic power supply, low voltage and frequent tripping of the transformer for weeks, much before the worst of the heat wave set in.

According to a survey conducted by the DHBVN last September, the city needed 300 new transformers, out of which only 200 have been installed till now. Residents said the deficient infrastructure shows.

For the second time in as many months, residents of Palam Vihar had to go two days without any power supply. Residents of J Block faced 36-hour power cut from 5.15am on May 30 to 6pm on May 31 after a blast in the transformer. Earlier, they had faced a 48-hour power cut between April 30 and May 2, also after a blast in the transformer.

“The power infrastructure has collapsed and we hold the DHBVN responsible for it. They are sanctioning new connections indiscriminately without augmenting the supply capacity. One after the other, residents of Palam Vihar have been facing erratic power cuts and voltage problem for weeks now. We faced a 36-hour power cut two days back in J Block,” J Block resident Lalji Tandon said.

“As per a survey done by the DJBVN last September, all of Sushant Lok needs 12 new transformers, and our block alone needs five new transformers. Currently, all the existing transformers are overloaded as hundreds of new connections have been sanctioned in the past three years, but the agency is yet to install any new transformers. In the past one month alone, two transformers got damaged resulting in 12- to 20-hour-long power cuts; the voltage is low and the transformer trips often,” said SS Rai, resident of C Block in Sushant Lok 1, where low voltage and power fluctuation are everyday problems.

On Sunday, residents of Sector 27, one of the many sectors surveyed last year to assess the need for new transformers, wrote a letter to the DHBVN demanding installation of three new transformers as they have been experiencing low voltage and erratic power cuts.

“I have sent a letter (and an e-mail also) to the DHBVN engineer concerned mentioning the 7-hour-long power cut from 11am to 6pm on Saturday. On Sunday, there was a three-hour-long power cut,” Sector 27 RWA president Mahender Singh said, adding that the entire township of Ramprastha City faced a blackout and they were forced to visit the DHBVN office to lodge a complaint.

Meanwhile the DHVBN said it’s trying to address all problems related relayed by residents, and that the Smart Grid project, expected to get completed by 2022, will fully end all the problems.

“We have not been maintaining the electricity distribution system in private colonies such as Palam Vihar, Sushant Lok and others; it’s done by the respective developers. However, we have been trying to resolve electricity problems. In Palam Vihar, the residents have agreed pay DHBVN a nominal electricity maintenance fee per month for infrastructure update. Four feeders laid under Smart Grid project are ready to be commissioned soon and that will address erratic cuts and low voltage problems to a large extent,” DHBVN chief engineer Sanjiv Chopra said.