Mumbai: Power outages continue to plague Mumbaikars, with residents across the island city reporting fresh disruptions on Wednesday in areas such as Bhawani Shankar Road in Dadar West, parts of Lalbaug, Byculla, and Grant Road West. According to residents, these interruptions have become an almost nightly occurrence for over a week, disrupting sleep and routine life during humid nights when fans and air-coolers are essential. Senior citizens and children have been among the worst affected, with families forced to sit in dark, stuffy rooms for hours.
Impact on Daily Life and Basic Services
Several buildings have also faced disruptions to lifts and water pumps, leaving residents struggling with basic services such as drinking water storage and access to upper floors. “It’s not just the lights going out. When the lift stops and the pump doesn’t run, the entire building comes to a standstill,” said a resident from central Mumbai, adding that the outages have become harder to plan around because timings vary.
Rising Power Demand and Grid Strain
The complaints come amid rising electricity consumption. A day earlier, peak power demand crossed 4,500 MW (4,558 MW), putting additional strain on the distribution network. Power outages were also reported in parts of the western suburbs, including Andheri West, Malad, and Goregaon, with residents taking to social media to flag repeated cuts and difficulties in reaching customer care. A Malad resident tweeted on Wednesday morning: “There has been a power cut for up to four hours in the past one week ... there is no electricity in the building ... tried to call customer care but no answers.” Another post said: “Since past month, there has been a power cut every alternate day in my area. Please fix it asap.”
From Goregaon, a resident wrote, “Power outage -- power goes out repeatedly during night and afternoon. It is extremely hot, please restore power immediately and fix this permanent issue.” Another tweet stated: “No power supply since morning 3.50am (Wed) ..already there is a heat wave.. please look into this.”
Criticism of Temporary Solutions
Activists said Mumbai had not seen such frequent disruptions in the past and criticised what they described as “temporary solutions” that do not address underlying faults. They also pointed to repeated outage alerts being sent “every third day”, often citing “high tension load in the area” as the reason.
Official Response and Underlying Issues
There was no official word on Wednesday’s outages. In recent instances, utilities have attributed disruptions to cable faults, feeder failures, and transformer tripping. Residents, however, said the pattern suggests deeper capacity constraints and maintenance gaps that need urgent attention.
