Ranchi: Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam, the state discom formed after unbundling the erstwhile Jharkhand State Electricity Board in 2014, will iron out customer grievances with a single-window software ystem Sashakt, literally meaning 'empowered', likely to debut from April 1.
Talking to this paper on Wednesday evening, JBVNL managing director Rahul Purwar said what was new about Sashakt was that it aimed to integrate all channels of grievance redress related to power in one common platform for better monitoring and solutions.
Also, if the same problems persist, or remain unsolved within the set time limit, customers can claim compensation.
"The idea is simple. Currently, people register concerns either by calling up 1912 or through our website, ezybill app, FB page, Twitter handle or going physically to our offices to register the complaint. Under Sashakt, no matter which mode one uses, all complaints will be routed to a single window. Right from top brass, any official can track the status of how the grievance is being tackled. Standard operating procedures are a must and so are timelines to fix a problem," he said, adding that they were fine-tuning the Sashakt software.
He added the software would have a customer feedback feature to rate services, which would pin accountability on officials concerned and improve grievance redress.
He added that bills would also see changes. "Now, we will issue smart bills, primarily a small sheet of paper of that specific month only, not lengthy sheets currently issued, which will save us resources. If any customer wants an itemized bill, he/she can punch in their details on our website or mobile app to see details," he said.
Currently, Purwar said, they had 35 lakh customers. Work to digitise and migrate manual data to the digital format, which has been on since a year, is almost over now.
He admitted that of the total connections, 12 lakh still lacked meters, not a small part. By 2018-end, that will be will rectified too, he promised.
Purwar said in next few months, feeders in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad would be covered under a special project called Scada to ascertain feeder disruption on real-time basis. Work on GIS mapping of feeders, transformers, and customers is expected to be over in the next couple of months.
Currently, the state has 362 feeders and 245 are under various stages of installation. In first phase, Scada is getting installed in 35 feeders in these three districts.
Scada will help know any feeder disruption instantly and also how long it would take to be normal. "Currently, sitting in Ranchi, you won't know if any feeder elsewhere has developed a snag unless someone tells you. Once Scada gets installed in all feeders, their performance and health can be tracked from anywhere at any time by any state power official," he said.
The beauty of GIS mapping was its is its help micro-level planning, he added. "If one transformer has to be shut for repair, we can know the exact number of customers linked to it and inform them precisely of the time of blackout instead of tripping power in the whole area," he said.
