Delhi's Dark Day: Why the national capital faced a power outage for hours

Several regions in the capital city found themselves shrouded in darkness for hours yesterday.

The power cut was a double whammy for Delhiites who are already battling sweltering temperatures and an acute water shortage.

After many netizens took to X to express their troubles, Delhi Power Minister Atishi attributed the outage to an incident in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh. She further said that she’ll meet newly elected Union Power minister Manohar Lal Khatter to address the matter.

What is the reason behind the power cut? Let’s take a closer look

but first, how does Delhi get its electricity?

In the capital, Delhi Transco Limited is responsible for operating and maintaining the high-tension transmission lines, while various distribution companies (discoms) handle power distribution to consumers.

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As per the Indian Express, the major parts of Delhi receive their power supply from BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, BSES Yamuna Power Limited, and TATA Power.

Power Minister Atishi explained, “PGCIL (Power Grid Corporation of India) and NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation), have a national power grid system…Delhi has very limited power production… Delhi receives electricity from different parts of the states through NTPC and PGCIL… and Delhi Transco Limited transfers the power through high-tension wires situated in different areas and finally, the consumers get electricity through our three power distribution companies.”

Delhi has over 4.8 million electricity consumers. The AAP-Delhi government also offers an electricity subsidy, with zero bills for up to 200 units and a 50 per cent discount for up to 400 units.

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What caused the power cut?

The power cut on Tuesday that almost lasted for about two hours reportedly stemmed from a fire at a major power grid in Uttar Pradesh’s Mandola that supplies around 1,200 megawatts of electricity to Delhi, Atishi wrote in a post on X.

As per officials, several areas in Delhi including the Delhi Secretariat, the Delhi Transport Corporation headquarters at IP Estate, and other government buildings in ITO, as well as areas such as Laxmi Nagar, Sarita Vihar, Sukhdev Vihar, Ashram, Old Delhi, Shahdara, Seelampur, Trilokpuri, Patparganj, Mayur Vihar, Lajpat Nagar, Jamia, Narela, Model Town, Rohini, Wazirpur and Kashmere Gate, were impacted by the power cut.

Calling the matter “very serious”, Atishi said in a press briefing, “I am seeking time to meet the newly appointed Power Minister Manohar Lal (Khattar) ji and the PGCIL chairman today…the central government runs the power transmission system of the entire country.”

There is power outage in many parts of Delhi from 2:11pm. This is due to a fire at sub-station of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) in Mandola, UP. Delhi receives 1200 MW of power from the Mandola sub-station, and therefore many parts of Delhi have been affected.

The…

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) June 11, 2024

She further criticised the Centre by attributing the power cut to a “failure of national infrastructure”.

“It is worrying that the national-level power infrastructure has come to a standstill today. The failure of the national grid in the country’s capital is quite worrying. There was no power cut even when Delhi’s peak power demand reached 8,000 MW. This power cut happened due to the failure of the national infrastructure,” the minister added.

In a letter to Khattar, Atishi said Delhi, besides being the national capital and housing political leaders and the entire Union government machinery, is also the home of more than 3 crore people and during this prevailing heatwave, ensuring “uninterrupted electricity supply to Delhi is of paramount concern”.

Have written to Union Power Minister @mlkhattar regarding the fire in Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) sub-station in Mandola (UP), that caused power outage for 2 hours in many parts of Delhi today.

Have sought time from him so as to ensure that any failures in the… pic.twitter.com/tUgG4UFG5e

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) June 11, 2024

Delhi has been experiencing an intense and unprecedented heatwave for nearly a month, with temperatures surpassing 50 degrees Celsius on some days.

Troubled by heat, several social media users took to X to complain.

“Delhi has turned into 90’s ka UP. Such long power cuts!! Anyone else experiencing the same?” one user posted on X.

Another wrote,"@LtGovDelhi @AtishiAAP @bsesdelhi In such scorching heat when people are being unable to resist Heat, power cut in many areas in Delhi on 11/6/24 indicate governance & management failure in Deptt. of Power in Delhi. People are even unable to register complaints. Shame.”

The power cut also brought troubles for water treatment plants in several regions of East, Southeast and Central Delhi which were unable to operate for hours.

“WTPs that saw power cuts are Sonia Vihar, Bhagirathi, Wazirabad and Chandrawal…and there was no power here from 2.11 pm… so, WTPs are not working…we are in touch with the PGCIL, they are working on the restoration of the sub-station,” Atishi said.

UP denies reports of fire

As per Indian Express, officials from the Uttar Pradesh government have denied reports of any fire.

“It was not a fire. There was a spark in one of the isolators of our system which caused the problem in the electricity supply. It happened around 2.10 pm and it was fixed by 3 pm. Supply has been restored and around 1,400 MW of electricity is being supplied to Delhi from our Mandola sub-station in Ghaziabad,” A K Mishra, Executive Director, Northern Region-1, Power Grid said.

With input from agencies