Patna: As temperatures rise in Bihar’s capital, power outages and frequent tripping have begun troubling residents across Patna, with electricity demand crossing 700 MW during peak hours.
Consumers from areas stretching from Digha to Patna City and from Kankarbagh to Danapur have reported repeated power cuts, especially during evening peak hours. Residents say the supply becomes erratic after sunset, leading to discomfort amid the ongoing heatwave.
A large number of complaints have been lodged on the electricity company’s helpline number 1912 and at fuse call centres. However, many consumers claim that the issues remain unresolved.
Officials from the Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (PESU) have attributed the problem to increased load on feeders due to rising use of air conditioners and coolers. However, a deeper administrative lapse has also come to light, contributing to the ongoing crisis.
Despite strict instructions from headquarters, the process of tagging consumers with distribution transformers remains incomplete. This has left engineers without accurate data on area-wise load distribution, making it difficult to manage supply effectively.
Incomplete Mapping Hampers Load Management
In the PESU area, there are around 7.59 lakh electricity consumers, of which 6.72 lakh households have been equipped with smart prepaid meters. However, only about 3.56 lakh consumers have been successfully tagged to distribution transformers so far.
The power utility had set a deadline of March 31 to complete this process, which would have enabled real-time monitoring of electricity load through software systems. With more than 50 percent of consumer data still unavailable, officials lack a reliable basis for redistributing load during peak demand.
This gap has made it challenging to prevent overloading, resulting in frequent tripping and voltage fluctuations across the city.
Transformer Overload Due to Tagging Delays
The tagging system is designed to link each consumer’s smart meter to a specific distribution transformer, allowing engineers to track consumption patterns. If a transformer is overloaded, consumers can be shifted to another transformer or additional infrastructure can be installed.
However, due to incomplete tagging in Patna, such planning remains largely on paper. As a result, overloaded transformers continue to trip repeatedly, worsening the power situation.
Thousands Still Without Smart Meters
Officials said that around 86,955 households in the city are yet to be equipped with smart prepaid meters. Until these installations are completed, the tagging process cannot be finalised.
The electricity company has directed the agency responsible for installing smart meters to identify consumers still using postpaid meters and convert them to prepaid systems at the earliest.
Rising Power Consumption
Electricity demand in Patna has been steadily increasing over the past few days:
- April 17 (11 pm): 624 MW
- April 18 (11 pm): 694 MW
- April 19 (12 am): 680 MW
With demand now exceeding 700 MW, officials expect continued stress on the power infrastructure if temperatures remain high.
Authorities are working to stabilise supply, but unless the tagging process and infrastructure upgrades are completed, residents may continue to face disruptions during peak summer weeks.
