This May, Janaki Rajesh spent around ₹40,000 to repair one of her air-conditioners and buy a new water-heater and inverter. The electrical appliances had got damaged due to voltage fluctuations. Many other residents of Vivekanandapuram First Street in West Mambalam have similarly spent thousands of rupees to have electrical appliances that have gone kaput due to this problem.
The Vivekanandapuram First Street Residents Welfare Association spent ₹50,000 to install CCTV cameras, only to find these gadgets damaged due to voltage fluctuation.
It is more than one-and-a-half years since the Association started requesting the Tangedco to provide the locality with an additional transformer to spare them such voltage-related problems.
“The existing transformer was installed 40 years ago. Now, the number of houses have increased and it is unable to take the load. Moreover, people use more electrical appliances than before,” says S. Murali, president of the Association.
After repeated representations by the Association, Tangedco made the necessary arrangements. Distribution boxes were installed. The overhead cables were made underground. But the new transformer is yet to be installed.
