DERC survey sheds light on power: Complaints down,powercuts still on

In its second Consumer Satisfaction Survey,the results of which were declared on Tuesday evening,the issue that concerns consumers most is the “lack of prior intimation about power supply interruptions.”

This time round,the DERC had roped in global marketing research firm A C Nielsen to conduct the survey — the largest of its kind in the Capital so far.

Almost 12,000 domestic consumers spread across the network of the three major discoms — BRPL,BYPL,and NDPL — were part of the survey.

Consumers were questioned on seven parameters which included continuity of electricity supply,quality of electricity supply,meter and billing issues,internal grievance resolution mechanism of discoms,call centres set up by discoms and behaviour of discom staff with consumers.

“This is the first time a reputed,independent body was roped in to conduct the survey as we wanted it to be a transparent and effective exercise. We will use the survey results to improve the categories where consumers have expressed dissatisfaction,” said DERC Secretary Amrinder Tewari.

On the whole,however,the survey spells good news for the Capital’s power sector with consumers expressing a “high degree of satisfaction” about stable voltage,regular visits by meter readers and regular receipt of bills.

Ratings of individual discoms have also risen marginally since the last survey. “There is a distinct improvement in the performance of discoms. The survey has helped us identify major areas of concern and the DERC will hold a meeting with all three discoms within a week to discuss the results. We will ask the discoms to pay special attention to areas where consumers are dissatisfied and will also devise a system to monitor the progress,” Tewari added.

While the Tata-backed discom NDPL has emerged as the best among the three Delhi discoms in terms of consumer satisfaction,it has also been singled out for the “poor behaviour of its linesmen and (the lack of) promptness in attending to complaints on streetlights.”

On a scale of 0 to 1,NDPL was the highest at 0.62,with BRPL at 0.60 and BYPL at 0.54.

“What is most heartening though is that the overall dissatisfaction on billing issues has dropped to about 10 per cent. This was a major issue last time,” a senior power department official said. What the survey makes clear is that major reforms are needed in the area of powercuts.

“Instances of load-shedding have dipped considerably since privatisation,but clearly it is still an issue. The Lieutenant Governor announced in his address on Monday that with the various power generation projects underway,Delhi will soon become a power-surplus state. By the time the Commonwealth Games roll,the Capital will certainly have enough power to ensure uninterrupted supply,” the official added.

Among other issues that are a cause for concern,the survey highlights “grievance resolution relating to billing disputes and grievances pertaining to new connections”.

Officials in the power department are of the view that this has more to do with consumer awareness. “There are many forums where consumers can take their grievances to,including the Public Grievance Cell of the Power department. Moreover,all discoms have a grievance cell,” the official said.