West Patna residents, who were hopeful that the commissioning of a new grid sub-station in Digha would solve their power woes, are terribly disappointed.

While power cuts continue to plague the residents, low voltage has added to their woes. This means that even when there is power supply, its quotient is too low to make it useful.

Keshri Nagar resident Kundan Kumar said: “Life has become difficult for us. On the one hand, we are facing frequent power cuts; on the other we are getting low voltage power supply. As a result, our motor pump does not work and this in turn leads to water shortage.”

Kundan and his fellow citizens in west Patna had expected improved power supply after the new Digha grid sub-station started to supply power to Patliputra, Rajiv Nagar, Rajabazaar, Ashiana, SK Puri, SK Nagar, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Excise Colony and others on April 2. But their hopes have been dashed with the low quality power supply to homes and workplaces.

Vinod Prasad, a resident of Rajiv Nagar road no. 26, said: “We were hopeful that the situation would improve — both in terms of adequate and quality power — in our area, as it gets supply from the Digha sub-station. But unfortunately, it is just the other way round. We are facing a new problem of low voltage, which never existed even when the area was getting supply from Khagaul.”

Senior Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) officers, however, feigned ignorance about the problem.

“I don’t have any information about this. I shall inquire into the matter,” said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.

The officer had no answer either when asked why this new problem had cropped up when the power supplied to the same areas from the Khagaul grid sub-station till March this year was of high voltage.

There is, however, a slight glimmer of hope for the residents though it has nothing to do with an improved supply.

Pesu superintending engineer and in-charge of west Patna S.K. Srivastava told The Telegraph: “In summer, we face such situations because of increased load factor (see chart). The supply would return to normal when the season changes.”

Citizens, however, are not amused with this seasonal remedy. “The electricity department charges fuel surcharges and a higher power tariff than many other states. It should try to address the problem as soon as possible,” said Patliputra resident Rahul Singh.