Bescom sets up sms facility for rain woes

Power utility will add 15 lines to the existing 30 of its emergency service

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has set up additional helplines to assist public during the monsoon season, starting from June 1.

The Bescom has requested the public to use sms facility, allowing the lines to be free for senior citizens.

Every complaint will be registered, docket number issued and tracked.  For any complaint that remains unattended for more than an hour, the numbers (see box) can be contacted through the sms, a release from the Bescom stated.

The heavy rainfall on Wednesday (May 22) proved to be a test run on the preparations made by Bescom.

On Wednesday night, Bangalore received 36 mm of rainfall, which was more than double the average (15 mm,) causing havoc across the City. Due to heavy rain, more than 100 trees were uprooted and many streets were flooded, leading to snapping of conductors and short circuits in many places. The consumption of power dipped.

At midnight, it was 1,150 MW, which would otherwise be 1,400 MW at that time, according to Bescom. “Supply of about 250 MW was affected. In other words, about 15 per cent of the City plunged into darkness. This is contrary to the common belief that most part of the City was in darkness.” the release said. They received 3,600 complaints on the night and all complaints could not be attended to.

As of now, Bescom helpline has 30 lines and 15 more will be added to this. Bescom has 160 vehicles in the City and 120 in rural areas. With this, each section office will have more than one vehicle.

With an addition of another 50 vehicles, Bescom intends to attend to more than one complaint at the same time in a particular area. It also has one crane for each sub division and has added 50 additional teams to the existing 110 teams along with vehicles, equipment and tools.

Lodge complaints here

To lodge complaints, log on to www.bescompgrs.com or SMS details of your complaint to 924315-0000, with Bescom as keyword or call  08022873333.

Once a docket number is given from the Bescom helpline, the power supply should be restored in one hour or the local Bescom officer should intimate the expected time of restoration. In case of no action, send sms to 94498-44640 (shift in-charge).

However, Bescom has asked people to go to the next level only if there is no response for 30 minutes.