• Consumers complain Electricity Helpline is seldom reachable
• MGP holds awareness-cum-interaction on Cesc power problems

Mysore/Mysuru: Come summer and there will be a major spike in the number of power-cut related complaints and this year, the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) has assured that it would streamline the complaints that flood Helpline Number 1912. The focus will be to address the grievance mechanism and provide relief to customers. 

The four-digit Helpline number for electricity complaints (1912), a Centralised complaint and redressal system, is a pan-India single customer care number for all power complaints and covers all public sector electricity distribution companies.

Consumers can dial 1912 in cases of power cut, fault in meter or metre-reading, fluctuation in voltage or sparks in transformers and any related accidents. Their calls will be diverted to the master control room and then the complaint will be forwarded to the local station for repairs.

Started initially to provide a seamless experience for consumers to lodge complaints, the call centre usually sees huge call volumes leading to a lot of calls being dropped simply because the system is overwhelmed. Addressing the monthly awareness-cum-interaction programme of Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) at its premises in Yadavagiri on Apr. 11, CESC Superintending Engineer (Elec.) S. Nagesh assured that he would see to it that services under 1912 would be further streamlined. 

Listening to the participants’ complaints about call drops and their inability to place a complaint at the 1912 call centre, Nagesh explained the mode of operation of Helpline 1912 in response to several complaints. “CESC has its own mechanism of self-follow up of customer complaints received through 1912. Once received, if remained unattended for long, the complaint will be automatically shifted to the next higher official for speedy redressal except in the case of serious problems including providing transformers etc.,” he explained. 

Grievances meet on third Saturday 

The entire complaint handling system has been decentralised in order to be able to take more calls and attend to complaints and as part of this, CESC conducts customer grievances meet on third Saturday of every month to get closer to the customers and try to render relief as early as possible. Consumers are also welcome to visit CESC offices on any working day to file any complaints with the engineer concerned, who will take up complaints, he added.

He explained about CGRF (Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum), an independent judicial body comprising an official from the CESC, a member of public as also a judicial member. The CGRF would conduct a judicial court to deal with any complaints on utilisation of power. 

Vigilance team

He also explained that the Vigilance Department of CESC has been working with an Assistant Executive Engineer and a Police Inspector as a team to check complaints of pilferage and illegal utilisation of power. As a first step, penalties are levied as punishment and if the offence is repeated, the offenders would be jailed for the illegal activity, he added. 

UG cable works

Speaking on underground (UG) power cable laying works taken up across the city, Nagesh said that the works are on in full swing and under progress in areas of Kuvempunagar and V.V. Mohalla. This work would be completed within three months. Later, works in Central Mysore will be taken up, he added. 

On a complaint about SMS messages sent to consumers before switching off of power for maintenance work not working properly, he advised consumers to check whether their mobiles numbers are registered with the Sub-Division for better services. 

MGP President Dr. Shivamurthy, Treasurer K.V. Ramanath, Executive Committee member Dr.T.N. Manjunath, Working President C.R. Ashwathnarayan, S.V. Raghavendra, Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan, Venkatesh Kharidi, Janakiraman, Subramanya Bhat, K. Ravi, Saraswathi, Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, Manu and Prof B.S. Shankar were present at the interaction.