With temperatures soaring above 45°C for over a week, residents across Sangam city are grappling with prolonged power outages as the electricity infrastructure struggles to handle the surge in demand. The continuous use of cooling appliances has put immense pressure on transformers and power lines, affecting supply in all seven divisions, including Tagore Town, Rambagh, Bamrauli, Kalyani Devi, Civil Lines, Naini and Kareli.
Officials from the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) attribute the widespread disruption to excessive electricity consumption during the ongoing heatwave, which has led to widespread overloading of transformers and frequent breakdowns.
Superintendent engineer (Circle II), Ashish Sinha, highlighted the rising demand, noting that the power requirement rose from 105.094 Million Units (MU) in April 2025 to 111.367 MU this April. The demand in May is also expected to show a significant rise over the 138 MU recorded in May 2025.
Faults, ranging from burnt transformers and short circuits at substations to overheating of power cables, have also severely affected supply, leaving residents without electricity for long hours in several localities.
Chief engineer Rajesh Kumar reported that more than two dozen transformers have been damaged this month due to overloading. He confirmed that mobile teams have been deployed to assist staff at substations and speed up repair work as outages have increased across the city.
The worsening situation has triggered anger and widespread protests. In Malviya Nagar, a transformer failure on Wednesday night caused a nearly 24-hour blackout, disrupting both power and water supply. Frustrated residents staged a sit-in protest outside the Executive Engineer’s office on Thursday evening. Following assurances from officials, a replacement transformer was installed around 9 pm, and supply resumed a few hours later.
Similar complaints have emerged from several parts of the old city, including Loknath and Bharti Bhawan Chowk, where outages also disrupted water supply, adding to the hardship. Residents alleged that repeated complaints were met with delayed or inadequate response. In the Chowk area, traders suffered losses as power remained disrupted through the day, prompting a large group to protest at the office of Executive Engineer Shashank Gupta.
Officials acknowledged the strain on infrastructure and cited manpower shortages as a factor affecting timely repairs in some areas. Residents in New Vihar Colony of Dhoomanganj faced day-long outages on Thursday, which worsened during the night after a transformer malfunctioned, with supply restored only in the early hours of Friday. Naini, Rajrooppur, and surrounding areas continue to experience frequent faults and delays in restoration.
In several neighbourhoods, including Mangal Vihar in Kasari Masari and parts of Kareli, residents blocked roads and created a ruckus at local substations to press for immediate action. Many households reported that even inverters have failed due to the extended outages.
The electricity department also blamed power pilferage, locally known as ‘katiyamari’, for adding to the load on transformers, particularly in the old city. To address the issue, vigilance teams carried out raids in areas such as Kareli, Dariyabad, Lukerganj and Khusro Bagh on Thursday night.
