'Despite High Charges, No Electricity': Power Outages Hit Mumbai Again

Outages were reported in Mumbai's Khar area.

Residents of Mumbai flooded Twitter, complaining about the power cuts and the long summer nights.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Several parts of India’s financial capital Mumbai and surrounding areas faced power outages yet again on the night of Tuesday, 26 April, with scorching heatwaves leading to higher electricity demands across multiple states.

Residents of the city flooded Twitter, complaining about the power cuts and the long summer nights.

Outages were also reported in Mumbai's Khar area with a user stating that compared to other states, the electricity charges in Mumbai were "exorbitantly high," and thus, better services were expected.

Adani Electricity, which is among the firms that supply power in Mumbai, said in a reply, "Dear Ma'am, regret the inconvenience caused. The interruption is as a result of breakdown. We would like to assure you that our technical teams are on the job and are striving hard to restore supply to the affected areas in 240 minutes [sic]."

Meanwhile, Tata Power, another distributor in Mumbai, had said on Tuesday that there might be load-shedding to maintain grid balance. It added that power would be restored once the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co Ltd (MSETCL) line gets energised.

The company said, "As per initial assessment, Tata Power would like to inform you some parts of Mumbai experienced electricity failure due to MSETCL line tripping as part of the 400KV Kalwa Grid which supplies power to Mumbai and suburban areas."

"Sakshi Dhoni, wife of former India cricket captain MS Dhoni, on Monday, had questioned the "power crisis in Jharkhand" in a tweet, as several states face massive electricity demands in lieu of heatwaves spreading across the country.

She said in a tweet, "As a tax payer of Jharkhand just want to know why is there a power crisis in Jharkhand since so many years ? We are doing our part by consciously making sure we save energy! [sic]"

Meanwhile, to deal with the rising power demand, Union Power Minister RK Singh and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a meeting on Monday to discuss strategies for dealing with the situation.

As per media reports, coal inventories had dipped to the lowest since 2014 at the beginning of the financial year to nine days as against the Centre's mandated 24 days' worth of stocks, news agency IANS reported.

(With inputs from IANS.)