The state of power-less, tired out Mumbai: what’s draining the city’s energy?

It is like one of the news headlines straight out of a thrilling movie when you say the phrase- “there will be irritation! There will be tons and tons of it!”. In a news that is slated to make heads turn with annoyance and is slated to leave one and all confused and dazed, Mumbai, it is being said, will be experiencing a lot of power in the forthcoming days

This isn’t to state that summers are any easy to endure in any way. And hence, that is where the need to have a constant run of power becomes all the more paramount. It doesn’t really look like a promising news as of now for the city of dreams, but that is what the stifling matter is.

At a time where the summer sun is breaking down like a tyrant punisher of sorts, the very news that there may not be a lot of power around especially in areas that are often sun-burned like the greater Mumbai region- Thane and Navi Mumbai- is set to send shudders down the spine of commoners.

This is really a strange math in the current context. At a time where the demand and need for power are all the more upping northward, the supply continues to be a problem. The news from the vantage point suggests that on the vantage point, the power supply is too tawdry and timid to meet the demands in the areas of Navi Mumbai, Panvel and other surrounding areas. But while this may just read like any other piece of news, here is what makes the situation alarming.

So massive has been the current power shortage that leading power utility firms like Best in the island city, Tata Power along with Reliance Energy in the suburbs have begun ‘rotational load sharing’ in order to cater to the constant dearth in power supply. Add to this the helping hand of another player in the said region- Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. LTD has also engaged in battling the weak power supply situation. What led to the situation is rather surprising.

In the wake of a massive fire that emerged a few days back, one of the leading transformers got burnt. And this will take- it is reported- another seven or eight days to get repaired. Officials who are monitoring the situation and constantly battling ways to emerge out of the crises have shared the following, ” There is a shortfall of 250-300MW power in Mumbai, of which 100MW was for BEST consumers, and we resorted to cuts from 4 pm.”

As a result of this crisis, a number of areas have been affected, mostly a component of western suburbs of Mumbai. These include Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivli, Dahisar, Andheri. But unfortunately, just as the western suburbs of the city were constantly haggling with the problem, the crisis also began in the eastern suburbs as well. Areas that are complaining, feeling charred by hounding summers include- Chembur, Ghatkopar, Tilak Nagar, Vikhroli, Powai, Bhandup and Mulund.

Amid hot and humid weather, though a usual reality for Mumbai, every single day of the year on a scale of normality, the citizens are constantly struggling with issues. Not the best feeling, is it when you are suddenly woken up by a power shortage, leading to non-working of the fan or air conditioner. It is believed that two transformers have been hit massively and only a third- Kalwa-has been working. At times, what happens is that due to peak load during peak afternoons or evenings, in the event of no power supply, a transformer takes the biggest hit. This is, exactly what happened, to the two transformers, this time around.

The only concern was that the timing of the event proved to be a little bitter for one and all. These being May and June, the peak summer months in arguably one of the more humid destinations in all of India.

It is, therefore, not too hard to understand as to why around the city, officials are requesting citizens of Mumbai to consume power wisely. On the lines of usage of electricity, everyone is being advised to consume power usefully and mindfully. People are being requested to switch off both lights and fans when there is no need for using the same. The whole purpose of the rotational load sharing concept is only for the sake that power can get distributed equally in those areas that are deprived of it.

The restoration of the transformers, which is of paramount importance as of now, is keen to fight out the current crisis Mumbai is experiencing. But a breakthrough, it is expected, can be reached, not before the next 7 days.