Lack of spare equipment, ageing network delay restoration as fresh outage hits state capital
Kohima, July 13: Barely a day after a major transformer failure plunged large parts of Dimapur into darkness, a fresh power outage hit Kohima and several adjoining villages on Monday, bringing renewed focus on the condition of Nagaland’s ageing electricity infrastructure and the state’s emergency preparedness.
According to the Department of Power’s Transmission Division, the latest disruption was caused by the failure of an 11 kV Indoor Vacuum Circuit Breaker at the 132/33/11 kV RESS Kohima sub-station, affecting parts of Kohima town, Jotsoma, Khonoma, Mezoma and Poilwa in Peren district.
The department said engineers were making alternative arrangements and appealed to consumers to bear with the inconvenience until power supply could be restored.
The outage comes less than 48 hours after a 10 MVA transformer at Dimapur’s Supermarket sub-station developed a technical fault, cutting electricity to several key localities, including Half Nagarjan, Netaji Colony, Police Colony, Bank Colony and the Supermarket area.
Officials had acknowledged that the department did not have a spare 10 MVA transformer in stock. Instead, restoration required shifting a transformer from another sub-station after installing a smaller 5 MVA unit there—a process involving heavy lifting equipment and expected to take considerable time.
The twin outages have raised questions over the resilience of Nagaland’s power infrastructure, particularly the availability of critical backup equipment and the condition of ageing transmission assets.
Power officials attributed the failures to ageing infrastructure rather than excessive load.
The disruptions have also affected daily life. In Dimapur, prolonged outages left many households without water as electric pumps stopped functioning, forcing residents to rely on hand pumps and generators. Businesses also reported disruptions due to the lack of electricity.
The latest outage has revived public concerns over the reliability of power supply in Nagaland. In recent weeks, residents in Diphupar and parts of Kohima had staged protests over prolonged blackouts, citing inadequate communication and delays in restoring electricity.
Energy experts note that utilities generally maintain strategic spare transformers and critical equipment to minimise downtime after major failures. The absence of such backup equipment in Dimapur has intensified debate over contingency planning in the state’s power sector.
With the commercial hub and the state capital both experiencing major outages within days, the incidents have once again highlighted the need for investment in modernising Nagaland’s transmission and distribution infrastructure, strengthening maintenance practices and improving emergency response mechanisms.
The Department of Power said restoration work was continuing in both Dimapur and Kohima but did not indicate when normal electricity supply would be fully restored.
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