Stung by the sharp criticism of its operations in Delhi, BSES has decided to emphasise on "customer care". Also, it is pushing for assistance from the Delhi government in handling cases of electricity theft.
"We are aiming to address metering and billing issues by October," said a company executive, adding that the Delhi government had also assured them of support in setting up tribunals and police stations by October, to handle electricity theft.
Power theft is a major issue and one of the reasons for the high commercial losses and also partly responsible for high tariffs in Delhi.
"Currently, it is difficult to lodge first information reports (FIRs) on cases of electricity theft and only two courts handle these cases in Delhi now.
Since these courts also handle other cases, the priority given to this issue is fairly low," said a company executive.
Also, the companies need police protection in order to cut connections in places where large-scale theft of power is taking place.
The company is also planning to open its own call centre to handle electricity complaints from areas covered by BSES Yamuna and BSES Rajdhani. It will undertake extensive meter testing in association with consumer councils and resident welfare associations. It has also launched camps for testing meters. Resident welfare associations will collect applications from people who want their meters tested.
These meters will be tested and wiring and earthing problems will be addressed.
Handling complaints is currently outsourced. The company is, however, working on developing its own centre for this purpose.
The number of complaints received each day varies from about 70 to as high as 4,000 during the rainy season. BSES has resolved over 5,500 consumer complaints since mid-July, according to a company statement. In addition, it will publish consumer education advertisements during summer months to explain that grid problems (over which the distribution company has no control) which can result in disruption of supply.
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