Patna, Jan. 5: Residents have been left feeling powerless, power less to be precise, for almost a week.

The frequent power cuts foretell more misery during the summer months. The city residents have been facing power cuts for two-three hours a day.

It is almost a double whammy for the citizens. On one hand they are being charged for fuel surcharge and on the other, they are being provided inadequate power. It is déjà vu for consumers, who face power disruptions during summer.

This comes after Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) had planned to provide round-the-clock power supply with a premium tariff from December 1, 2011 but later withdrew its notification.

Sources said areas like Ashiana Nagar, Sandalpur, Patel Nagar, CDA Colony, Bhikhna Pahari, Boring Road, Rajiv Nagar, Kesri Nagar, Patliputra, New Patliputra, Indrapuri, West Patel Nagar, Anandpuri, Shivpuri, SK Puri, Rajendra Nagar and others had been the worst hit. The power disruptions at these places varied from one hour to three hours at times.

“The electricity board, which promised to provide uninterrupted power, has failed to provide electricity even during winter and that too in the capital. Its tall claims have been exposed,” said Om Prakash Sinha, a building developer residing in CDA Colony.

“It is difficult to study as the power goes off in the evening. We have no option but to buy an inverter,” said Mukesh Kumar Mishra, a student, who resides in Patel Nagar. “We have received more than 1,300MW in the past four days from the central sector, that include 300MW purchased from the open market by the state government. The state received 1,400MW yesterday as well as today,” board spokesperson H.R. Pandey told The Telegraph.

“The rain had affected the 11KV and low transmission lines and that’s why people faced power cuts. That has been sorted out and now the situation is quite normal as far as supply is concerned,” Pesu’s general manager-cum-chief engineer SKP Singh told The Telegraph.

When informed that people complained about the power cut even today, Singh said it was because of local reasons which could include burnt transformers, snapping of wires, disturbance from local poles, phase problems and others.