Power outages hit state amid rising demand, staff shortage

Power supply remained disrupted in several pockets in rural and urban Patiala and Sangrur following rain for around an hour and strong winds recently. Some areas in Ludhiana remained without power for over four hours following a thunderstorm just for a few minutes, while power corporation officials were forced to work overtime, sometimes for over 16 hours, to restore the supply.

Adverse weather, repeated thunderstorms and the shortage of field staff are adding to the challenge of delivering regular power supply across the state. Some areas, especially in rural zones, have been experiencing even longer outages, affecting both homes and businesses. Meanwhile, the increased power demand and technical faults disrupted supply in many districts during the paddy season.

PSPCL officials say Mohali has recorded a 20 per cent rise in power load; however, the current infrastructure cannot fully support this additional pressure. Currently, Punjab’s power demand stands at nearly 16,000 MW, which drops by 3,500 to 4,500 MW after rain.

“About a quarter of grid substations are overloaded and cannot handle the growing load due to ongoing high-rise construction and new residential developments across the state,” explained All India Power Engineers Federation spokesperson VK Gupta.

Information from control rooms across major cities shows repeated complaints related to power outages, missing phases and delayed restoration. “Technical staff normally engaged in office work have been redirected to the field to aid in repairs during the summer months,” a senior PSPCL official said. “This, alongside delayed infrastructure upgrades due to staff shortages, is adding to the pressure.”

At present, over 25,669 posts, out of the sanctioned 39,641 at the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), remain vacant, with the highest number of vacancies of linesmen, assistant linesmen, and junior engineers.

A senior government official said Power Minister Harbhajan Singh was already trying to address the issue of shortage of staff. Efforts were underway to fill the vacant posts to ease pressure on the existing staff and for enabling faster service restoration. “Steps are being taken to fill these vacant posts at the earliest,” he claimed.

Punjab