Journalism of Courage
As many as 7,200 calls are received on a daily basis by the centralised customer care centre set up in 2013 by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) in Pune and Bhandup to address the consumers’ grievances.
Out of 7,200 calls, approximately 3,200 calls are pertaining to power utility’s service-related problems, while the rest of the calls are made to obtain general information about the MSEDCL.
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Power disruption is among the major complaints received besides billing problems. A complaint number is provided to consumers who register their grievances at the toll-free number.
Once a complaint is filed, it is directed to the line staff so that they are immediately attended to. The call centre staff then get back to the consumer within two hours of complaint registration to ascertain whether the grievance had been resolved. However, if there is a major feeder breakdown, the complaint is taken phase-wise to the chief engineer of the zone.
The local level complaint redressal centres have been totally shut down since 2014, said MSEDCL spokesperson Nishikant Raut.
“Our effort is to immediately address the complaints, and resolve them quickly,” said Raut.
Initially, one has to provide the consumer number to register the grievance but the complainant can also register his/her mobile number or residence number with the call centre.
This helps the person in case he/she wants to lodge complaints more than once.
