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Power pains: Lko helpline gets a complaint per minute as outages frustrate
Despite assurances from the power corporation and the energy minister, the city’s electricity supply remains erratic, affecting more than 30 areas each day
Residents of Lucknow are grappling with severe power outages, with over 1,500 to 2,100 complaints flooding the power corporation’s call centre daily. That’s 80 power outages per hour and more than one power outage per minute!
Despite assurances from the power corporation and the energy minister, the city’s electricity supply remains erratic, affecting more than 30 areas each day. The situation has become so dire that the chief engineer visited the Indira Nagar area to assess the issues firsthand.
In various localities, including Gomti Nagar Extension, Chinhat, Indira Nagar, Shivaji Puram Colony, Janakipuram Extension, Balaganj, Kanpur Road, LDA Colony, Telibagh, Uttaratiya, Thakurganj, Chowpatian, Basmandi, and Jankipuram, residents are experiencing regular power cuts. These outages disrupt daily life, causing significant inconvenience.
In the past three days, furious residents of Jankipuram, Balaganj, and Basmandi stormed local sub-stations in protest of nighttime power cuts, forcing employees to flee.
The situation is particularly grim in areas like Bada Bharwara and Laulai Kashiram Colony, under the Chinhat division, where residents have endured four days of power cuts at a stretch due to a transformer problem.
Mukesh Singh, corporator from Indira Nagar, said that power supply has been “marred by intermittent power cuts daily, with outages lasting from one to two hours at a time, especially in Indira Nagar sector 14 and Shivajipuram area. The power crisis in several parts of the state capital shows the urgent need for a comprehensive overhaul of power infrastructure. The authorities must prioritise addressing these issues to restore normalcy and ensure reliable power supply for all residents.”
The situation is no better in the city outskirts. In the Nabi Panah area of Mahilabad, residents experienced more than a seven-hour power outage, compounding difficulties.
Mohammad Wasi, a resident near Dubagga Andhe ki Chowki, highlighted the frequency of power cuts, which occur five to seven times daily, with an average downtime of three hours.
Customer Care Woes
Adding to the woes of the residents is the inefficiency of the customer care system. Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Gomti Nagar Vistaar, lamented that despite repeated calls to the UPPCL customer care number, his complaints went unregistered. He pointed out that the most severe power cuts occur between 6 PM and midnight, a time when customer care is unresponsive, and even employees at substations are unable to provide satisfactory answers.
A lack of response from officials is exacerbating the problem. Sateyndra Singh, a resident of LDA Colony on Kanpur Road, recounted an incident where six neighboring houses suffered a power cut due to a local fault. Despite persistent efforts to contact the
junior engineer (JE), sub-divisional officer (SDO), and Executive Engineer (EX EN), his calls went unanswered. The sub-station also failed to respond, and the call center phone remained busy as usual. Eventually, they personally went to the substation pleading to restore the supply.
Transformer trouble
In the past week alone, around 125 transformers have been damaged due to overloading. LESA (Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration) sources revealed that more than 18 transformers, both small and large, are getting damaged daily.
With the current number of transformers in LESA reaching 40,000, those below 100 KV are the most vulnerable. Recently, about one lakh residents across 60 villages in Mohanlalganj suffered a three-day blackout due to departmental negligence. In many areas, the situation is being temporarily managed by installing trolley transformers, but these measures are insufficient for long-term stability.
An official of LESA on condition of anonymity said, “ We need to address the staff crunch in LESA Amausi, Lucknow Central, Jankipuram and Gomti Nagar zone. With the outsourced staff we have to maintain the workflow. Most linesmen, helpers, meter readers, computer operators etc are outsourced and we have to work according to them.”
The official said that in the regular staff, there is shortage of JEs and other technical staff , which needs to be addressed for quick redressal of complaints.
