Lucknow, May 25 -- After nearly a decade in which prolonged power outages, street protests and public anger over electricity supply had gradually almost become an old story, signs of a relapse are beginning to emerge in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Lucknow and several urban pockets. The return is nowhere near the scale seen in earlier years, but the problem has become visible enough for even ruling BJP legislators from the state capital to raise concerns publicly, apart from criticism by the Opposition. The natural question, therefore, being asked everywhere is: what exactly is going wrong? The state has not been facing a major supply crisis. Uttar Pradesh recently touched record power demand levels of over 30,000 megawatt (MW), among the highest in the country, yet officials maintain that generation and procurement are largely keeping pace with requirements. A decade ago, the main crisis was largely due to the huge gap between the requirement and availability of power, resulting in recurrent prolonged load shedding across consumer categories. Instead, the problem appears to lie elsewhere- on the distribution side where faults, repair delays, manpower issues and organisational restructuring are increasingly coming under scrutiny. At the centre of the debate is the 'vertical system', introduced in several cities last year as part of a restructuring exercise aimed at improving efficiency and creating specialised work divisions. Earlier, a local junior engineer (JE) or sub-divisional officer (SDO) was directly accountable for most electricity-related issues in a particular area, allowing consumers to identify a responsible officer and seek quick resolution. Under the new structure, functions have been split among separate wings dealing with billing, metering, maintenance and other operations. Critics say this has blurred accountability and created a lot of confusion. Even officials sometimes struggle to determine who exactly is responsible for resolving particular fault, they say, leaving consumers navigating web of helplines, online systems and multiple offices. "The faceless system has created confusion where neither consumers nor field staff know who owns a problem," All-India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) chairman Shailendra Dubey said. "The crisis in Lucknow is particularly due to the mismanagement resulting from the vertical system imposed in a hurry," he added. Dubey claimed that dependence on the 1912 complaint system and online platforms had widened the disconnect between consumers and field staff. Complaints may be getting registered promptly, it says, but resolution was often getting delayed. The issue has gained significance because many recent disruptions are linked not to shortages of electricity but to local faults and delayed repairs. This has raised another question: if thousands of crores have already been spent under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) for system strengthening and reduction of faults, why are local outages still troubling consumers? The power sector management argues that extensive modernisation and infrastructure strengthening have reduced fault frequency and therefore require leaner workforce. Critics, however, point to another set of numbers. While the state's consumer base has crossed 3.5 crore nearly double that of around nine years ago, employee organisations claim manpower has shrunk rather than expanded. According to UP Bijli Karmchari Union's working president Prem Nath Rai against around 73,000 sanctioned posts, more than 43,000 are vacant and no large-scale recruitment has taken place for around four years. "Besides, over 20,000 contractual workers have been removed, leaving existing staff burdened with significantly higher workloads," he alleged. Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad chairman Avdhesh Kumar Verma said that while consumers were struggling amid severe summer conditions, the system itself had not developed capacity in proportion to rising demand despite consumers paying substantial electricity charges. "Even today there is a mismatch of more than two crore kilowatts in the system," he claimed, adding that shortages of manpower and removal of contractual workers were not receiving adequate attention. Power employees have been engaged in prolonged disputes with management over privatisation proposals and restructuring plans. Management, however, sees resistance as opposition to reform measures aimed at improving efficiency and accountability. "We do not rule out the possibility of some employees deliberately delaying fault rectification work to mount pressure on the management," a UPPCL official alleged. Dubey, however, dismissed the allegation as 'rubbish' saying the management should identify such employees and lodge FIRs against them. UPPCL chairman and additional chief secretary (energy) Ashish Goyal, however, strongly rebutted the charges that the vertical system and the manpower shortages were responsible for the crisis. "The country's best discoms either public or private, have the vertical system only. This system has improved several technical parameters in cities where it has been implemented," he said. He said the vertical was a faceless system that not only fixed accountability for each work separately but also eliminated chances of corruption as consumers did not have to interact with any official for any work. Goyal said there was no manpower shortage either. Goyal urged consumers to necessarily lodge all their complaints on the 1912 helpline, which is the only tool for the department to track Goyal said much of the problem had already been eased for the last two days after historical power demand not only in UP but in the entire country. Another UPPCL official claimed that the vertical system had hit vested interests of many officials and employees who were now making propaganda against this system....