Hyderabad: Apartment owners in the city are facing a heavy financial burden because of new rules that require them to install individual transformers for their apartment complexes. These rules have been put in place to manage the rising demand for electricity effectively. Residents of small apartment complexes, built 10 to 15 years ago, are now being told to maintain their own transformers after their electricity usage exceeds 20 kilowatts (kw).
As more people live in apartments, the demand for electricity has grown. This has put a strain on the city’s electrical grid, causing more frequent power outages and transformer failures. However, the new regulations are placing a financial strain on residents. The cost of installing a transformer is over Rs 3 lakh, and this amount is being passed on to the apartment owners.
Residents who built their apartments years ago are finding it difficult to adjust to this new requirement. In areas like Dilsukhnagar, L B Nagar, Santosh Nagar, Saidabad, Malakpet, Nampally, Ameerpet, Khairtabad, Kukatpally, Madhapur, Manikonda, and Tolichowki, many apartment owners are being told they need to arrange for a transformer once their power usage exceeds 20 kw.
For example, in Dilsukhnagar and Santosh Nagar, residents of a small apartment complex with ground plus three floors, built 15 years ago, have received notices from the authorities to install their own transformer.
Shaik Sami, a resident of Santosh Nagar Colony, shared his experience. He said, “I bought a flat in a G+3 building a decade ago. Now, we’ve received a notice to install a transformer because our electricity usage has gone up. We are being forced to set up a separate transformer, but other flat owners are refusing to contribute to the cost.”
In Dilsukhnagar, a building with eight flats was sold by the builder years ago. It originally had nine electricity connections, including one for common amenities like lifts. However, with increased electricity usage, Transco officials have now told the flat owners that they must install a transformer, which could cost more than Rs 3 lakh. This cost will be split among the eight flat owners, said Ravi Kiran, who owns a flat in the building.
An official from the AE office, Circle 9, explained that this issue is not limited to just a few areas. Nearly 10,000 apartments and buildings in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area have exceeded the 20 kw limit but have not yet installed dedicated transformers.
According to the rules, any building that uses more than 20 kw of electricity must have a dedicated transformer. Transco authorities have begun sending notices to property owners, urging them to install the required transformers to comply with the regulations. Many areas are facing frequent power outages because transformers are overloaded, causing them to trip or fail.
In Manikonda alone, officials have identified around 150 apartments and commercial complexes that are drawing more than 20 kw from the public distribution transformers.
