Iyyappanthangal suffers from erratic power supply

CHENNAI: Residents and small traders at Subbaiah nagar, Ashok Brindavan Colony and Ponniamman Nagar in Iyyapanthangal have suffered from frequent voltage fluctuations and power cuts in the last few weeks, leaving electronic appliances damaged and businesses affected.

A transformer also recently exploded in the neighbourhood due to overload, delaying repair work. Electricity board officials said that new feeders and transformers will soon be installed to solve the problem.




The calm residential neighbourhood which saw many senior citizens settle here post retirement, now has many more houses coming up— meaning rising power demand, thanks to the realty boom in nearby Porur.

The locality, which is yet to have underground power lines, has had voltage fluctuations and power cuts almost every day for the last few weeks.

“Due to voltage fluctuations, though we use three-phase power distribution system, we are unable to use more than one appliance at a time. Even the fans and tubelights barely work,” said Siva Prasad, a resident of Subbaiah Nagar, Iyyapanthangal.

Even though power cuts are notified to the mobile numbers of the registered individuals, they do not work always.

“If we get a message informing of a power cut, we get prepared. But still, the power goes off at an unexpected time,” said R Selvakumar. Residents say they get a routine response that the problem is being attended to on the EB toll free number (1912).

Erratic power supply has hit residents hard. “It becomes difficult if there is voltage fluctuation in the morning, especially when everyone is in a hurry to get to offices and schools,” said Geetha, a resident.

The crisis has left small businesses impaired. “I run a small flour grinding mill and cannot afford generators. If there is no power for a whole day, my income for the day is lost. People come to us mostly between 9am and 5pm and it is very difficult to manage without power,” said Ramasamy K.

A TNEB official said, “We have installed new feeder lines and plan to have new transformers installed. The work is still on.”