Kolkata: Night-time power cuts because of overload in summer — primarily confined to areas like Baranagar, Dum Dum, Behala and localities on the city’s edges — came to haunt a neighbourhood in Bhowanipore in the early hours of Sunday, triggering concern about the vulnerability of power infrastructure as high AC use at night continues to drive loads beyond capacity of junction boxes and transformers.Areas in New Ballygunge and Kasba also reported voltage fluctuations in the afternoon that forced residents to switch off ACs.
Power went off in houses on Paddapukur Road, Madhav Chatterjee Street and Chakraberia Road (N) around 3.30 am on Sunday and it stayed dark till 5 am with a 15-minute breather between 4.05 am and 4.20 am when a tripped fuse was reset by utility workers only to trip again after a fault.
Last summer, most of the outages had occurred in fringe localities where new buildings have mushroomed in recent years and witnessed installation and use of ACs in large numbers. CESC had explained that the tripping was primarily caused due to system overload triggered by use of unsanctioned ACs in these neighbourhoods.
“Most of the outages that happened either last summer or this year have been in peripheral areas of Kolkata where there were fewer ACs earlier. While adding ACs, the residents did not inform CESC to get the load ratified. Neighbourhoods in Kolkata proper saw very few disruptions because they were already saturated with ACs,” an official had explained.
However, the outage in Bhowanipore has left utility officials and consumers worried. Locals said razing of old houses and redevelopment of plots had led to construction of apartments and hotels and the addition of dozens of ACs, precipitating the same crisis that dogged areas on the city’s edge.
Localities in New Ballygunge and Bosepukur Road have been experiencing voltage fluctuations in the afternoon, forcing homes to switch off ACs fearing damage to the appliances.
A CESC official reiterated consumers need to notify the utility of ACs being added. “ACs draw more power than all other appliances,” he said.