MUMBAI, May 24 -- For residents of the Marol Gaothan in Andheri east, summer this year has meant living with frequent power cuts stretching from two to four hours, almost every alternate day, over the last month. With temperatures and humidity high, residents say routine life has become exhausting. The outages have hit the entire locality, with 150 to 160 homes frequently losing power. "There are also outages in the remaining 90 homes, but the situation is worse in our stretch," said Sachin Pereira, 46. Pereira. "There was no electricity for six hours straight. How can we survive in a summer like this?" he said. The crisis in the gaothan is particularly severe but, in May, a peak summer month, power disruptions are being routinely reported across the city. While power distribution companies cite tripped transformers, cable faults and an ageing power network, the underlying problem appears to be a sharp surge in demand, in part due to a greater reliance on air-conditioning. Rapid real-estate expansion through redevelopment, with the inclusion of power-intensive amenities, is also driving up consumption. On May 14, Mumbai's peak electricity demand crossed the 4,500-megawatt (MW) mark for the first time ever, against an average 3,900-4,000 MW during summer. Adani Electricity, the power distributor for the area, refused to comment when HT reached out to them. However, sources in Adani Electricity said there are problems with the main line supplying electricity to the locality, and ongoing cement concrete (CC) road work has made it difficult to implement a long-term solution. However, an alternative arrangement has been made, sources added. Electricity supply was disrupted from around 11 pm on Friday till nearly 3 am, and some pockets in the neighbourhood experienced longer outages than others. "There are power outages every alternate day, for two to four hours, sometimes through the night. During the day, we can at least step out, but at night it feels like hell," said Audrey Nunes, 69, a senior citizen. "I feel giddy and nauseous. It is taking a toll on my health." Jerissa Fernandes, 31, and her husband Alroy Mendonca, 31, said they lost a day of work each due to a prolonged power outage on Friday-Saturday. Their part of the gaothan had experienced two outages this month, the last one being on May 13, they said. "Power was either completely unavailable or restored intermittently till 8 am, often for less than an hour throughout," Fernandes said. There was no resolution despite repeated calls....