A thunderstorm accompanied by heavy rain and strong winds on Saturday disrupted electricity supply across large parts of Ludhiana, with outages lasting nearly six to seven hours in several areas, affecting thousands of domestic consumers and forcing several industrial units to temporarily suspend operations.People make their way amid showers in Ludhiana on Saturday; and (right) residents wade through a waterlogged street on Rahon Road. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)The disruption came at a time when Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has been grappling with record summer demand, overloaded transformers and rising consumer complaints amid persistent heatwave conditions.The spell of heavy rain, coupled with strong winds and waterlogging, triggered multiple technical failures across the city’s transmission and distribution network.Among the major incidents reported was the shutdown of power supply from the 66 kV Substation Phase-8, where the PTF-T2 supply had to be switched off due to heavy waterlogging.Officials said the roof slab above the incomer bay had already been dismantled for an ongoing control room extension project, leaving the equipment vulnerable during the rain.At the 66 kV Billet Factory substation, a major technical fault occurred after a 66 kV Y-phase jumper snapped. The incident subsequently damaged the 11 kV incomer and an outgoing VCB panel following a fire, disrupting supply from the entire substation.The outages affected several parts of the city, including Focal Point, Rahon Road, Jassian Road, Ladowal, Gill Road, Phulewal, Dugri, Sarabha Nagar, Haibowal, Shimlapuri, Jawahar Nagar, Dhandari, Tajpur, Sector-32A, Gurdev Nagar and surrounding localities.Residents reported prolonged power cuts, voltage fluctuations and delayed restoration even after the rain subsided.The disruption also affected Ludhiana’s industrial belt, particularly Focal Point and adjoining manufacturing hubs, where production activities were interrupted after electricity supply remained unavailable for several hours.According to a PSPCL official, several factory operators reported temporary shutdowns, while some workers were sent home early as restoration timelines remained uncertain.The situation put additional pressure on PSPCL’s complaint redressal system, with consumers flooding the 1912 helpline with outage complaints from across the city.Superintending engineer (city west) Kulwinder Singh said the heavy rain and associated faults disrupted power supply in several parts of Ludhiana for nearly six to seven hours.“By 5.30 pm, nearly 95% of the affected supply had been restored. Most of the 220 kV and 66 kV networks were brought back into operation. However, some 11 kV feeders were still under repair and restoration work was continuing in a few pockets,” the superintending engineer said.Officials said precautionary shutdowns were also carried out at some locations to prevent damage to electrical equipment and ensure safety during the storm.Technical teams were deployed across the city to attend to faults, remove tree branches from overhead lines and restore damaged feeders.Staff shortage slows complaint resolution A senior PSPCL official said the central zone continues to face manpower shortages, making it difficult to address a large number of complaints simultaneously during emergencies.“Our teams remained in the field throughout the day. While restoration took longer in some areas due to multiple simultaneous faults, efforts are being made to resolve all pending complaints at the earliest,” the official said.