Delhi government panel to identify local power faults

Senior government officials said power cuts in Delhi have reduced by 85% since 2014, attributing the remaining 15% to “local faults” and not power shortage, which several neighbourhoods in the city often witness.

The Delhi government has set up a committee to identify neighbourhoods that witness power cuts due to “local faults” and draft a power augmentation plan, senior officials said on Wednesday.

The Delhi government has set up a committee to identify neighbourhoods that witness power cuts due to “local faults”. (HT File Photo)

“Delhi currently provides round-the-clock power supply to its residents at the cheapest cost. That has been possible because of massive expansion in distribution and transmission infrastructure in the past five years,” the government said in a press statement.

Senior government officials said power cuts in Delhi have reduced by 85% since 2014, attributing the remaining 15% to “local faults” and not power shortage, which several neighbourhoods in the city often witness.

“Local faults can mean a wide range of things – from problematic transformers to issues with wiring. Local faults lead to loss of power units. That was why the committee has been set up – to identify such local faults, mark localities that witness power cuts due to such faults and draft an augmentation plan to compensate for the lost units,” said a senior government official.

Between 2014 and 2019, more than 2,300 transformers were installed in Delhi compared to 1,526 transformers issued in the five years’ period between 2009 and 2014, the government said. Also, between 2014 and 2018, the units lost due to power cuts have reduced from 117 million units to 17.8 million units, the government said.