Bescom will meet its consumers every month

In an attempt to make the affairs of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) more transparent, officials have decided to begin customer interaction programmes and workshops soon.

“We have decided to hold meetings with consumers on the third Saturday of every month. Next month, we will conduct an interaction with consumers on simplifying bills and technology,” P Manivannan, managing director, Bescom, said at a workshop on Remote Prepaid Meters—Technology, on Friday.

He said the meters would not only help in reducing the power usage, but would also help in monitoring power usage by the customers.

He said power utilities in India have been striving to extend the best possible support to customers by improving revenue collection, meter reading and preparation of bills.

He said collection of payments takes a considerable amount of time and effort for the utility, something which is eliminated by the prepaid metering systems.

He pointed out that electricity is one of the few services that are billed for after they are consumed. He said everything else we use in life like cooking gas, mobile phone talk time, grocery and clothes are paid for before they are used.

“Demand-side management, improved quality of supply along with high customer satisfaction has resulted in the acceptance of the new system by utilities,” the Bescom MD added.