The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) has said that the WhatsApp helpline numbers it released last week to resolve issues related to power had received a good response from consumers. In a statement on Wednesday, BESCOM claimed that within a week the helpline numbers had received 736 complaints from consumers of which 628 complaints had been resolved. “The consumers have been sending photos and videos of power related issues, transformer failures and photos regarding power lines touching trees and residential buildings. This helps the officials to resolve the power issues on a priority basis. The helpline staff forward the photos and videos to the concerned officers for rectification. So with this, the efficiency can be expected from ground level staff. Once the photos and videos are received the staff go to the spot and resolve the issue,” said S R Nagaraj, General Manager, Consumer Relations, BESCOM. Karnataka Energy Minister V Sunil Kumar on May 24 had released the 11 WhatsApp helpline numbers for consumers in eight districts of BESCOM to send messages related to power outages and other issues. According to officials, consumer service executives at helpline centres will receive the WhatsApp messages and they will coordinate with concerned BESCOM centres to resolve the power-related queries on a priority basis. They said this facility would help consumers to get quick and hassle-free solutions for power-related issues. In order to strengthen helpline centres and bring better coordination between section offices and helpline centres, nodal officers have also been deputed for these helpline centres, they added. Assistant executive engineers (AEE) will work on shifts in these helpline centres. Their presence in the helpline centres would help bring better coordination between the centres and section office to provide better service to the consumers, said BESCOM officials.
