I am a UK born citizen and I’ve come to India many times at least every two years and have stayed in rural villages where the electricity goes off a lot during the day (about 70% of the time). I am now visiting Delhi and staying here and it doesn’t go off as much about 3-4 times a day for maybe a maximum time of 1 hour, as long as I have been here otherwise it may be gone for longer. Even if it would go off for longer I suppose I would be able to cope as I am used to having electricity being turned off for longer periods due to the time I spent in the villages.
I arrived in India on the 31st October 2006 and been in New Delhi and Punjab and I have the say electricity supply has improved a lot. Many homes now have inverters and generators so electricity is available 24 hours without any problems. As soon as the electricity goes off the inverter starts, the only problem with the inverter is that only a few electric items work, the inverter can only supply enough electricity for a few things such a light bulbs charging a phone, the TV and fridge will remain off as these require a large quantity of electricity. Although you won’t have the use of the necessities like TV, DVD you will still have light in the house which is better than no electricity.
Having a generator will be the best option if you don’t want any electricity problems as with this when the electric goes off you can start the generator and all electric appliances will be available, but with this there is only one problem the noise, if you can bear this then its ok but if you cant your best off at a place which has an inverter.
When it comes to having no electricity there is only one reason the supply is short. I have gone out during the day in New Delhi and seen street lights are on all day long no wonder why there is no electricity available during the day. If electricity is turned off from the right places in public places then there will be much more supply to residents.