3 in 5 households facing power outages amidst extreme heatwave: Survey

As the temperature almost hit 50 degrees celsius in many parts of India, power outages continue for three in five households for over two hours or more each day, found a survey by LocalCircles, a community-based platform.

The survey found that households cite poorly governed power departments, poor supply infrastructure and maintenance along with corruption as top reasons for power outages in their area while more than half of the households never get advanced notification from their power department/company about power outages.

The survey received more than 35,000 responses from citizens across 344 districts of India. About 63 per cent of the respondents were men while 37 per cent were women. Over 41 per cent of the citizens were from metros or tier 1 districts, 32 per cent from tier 2 districts and 27 per cent from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

On the question "How many hours of a power outage (from the power department/company) are you experiencing each day at your home?" The question received 11,897 responses, of which 38 per cent of citizens said they are "Not facing any outage", 29 per cent are facing power outage for "Up to 2 hours", 12 per cent said "2-4 hours", and 5 per cent said "4-8 hours", 2 per cent said "8-12 hours", and 13 per cent said, "Don't know because we have 24*7 power backup".

The survey found that three in five households in India face power outages amidst heatwave and high temperatures while one in five lacks power over two hours or more each day.

Compared to a similar survey in April, 34 per cent of households had previously said they were "Not facing any outage". This has increased slightly to 38 per cent in May. Meanwhile, households facing outage up to 2 hours has increased from 28 per cent in April to 29 per cent in May. On the other hand, households facing outage up to two-four hours has decreased from 18 per cent to 12 per cent, and those facing outage up to 8-12 hours has also come down from 10 per cent in April to 5 per cent in May.

Notably, the percentage of households who have 24*7 power back up has increased from 6 per cent in April to 13 per cent in May.

In another question, about what are the key reasons for the power outage in people's areas or districts -- 2 per cent of 11,943 respondents said "Not enough supply capacity", while 55 per cent said "Poorly governed and managed power department/utility company"; 28 per cent said "Power thefts"; 48 per cent said "Poor supply infrastructure and its maintenance"; 13 per cent said "Hot weather"; 35 per cent said "Corruption"; and 7 per cent cited "Other reasons".

Furthermore, the survey discovered that people expect power departments/companies to share information in advance which does not happen. "Advance information about outages allows people to plan their important tasks and cope with the outages a bit better," said the survey.

In the survey question that had 11,673 responses, people were asked "When there is a power outage in your area, do you get notified by the power department/company in advance about power outages?" The majority, 53 per cent of citizens said "They never notify, ever". 29 per cent said they "Sometimes get an SMS/phone call/email", and 6 per cent said, "Sometimes the local power department staff notifies". Only 10 per cent said they "Always get a SMS/phone call/email".

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