Bescom to continue using Infosys software

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has said that it will go ahead with the billing software developed by the City-based IT giant Infosys.

After several billing complaints from consumers, Bescom had earlier wanted to rethink about using the software and had even made a submission before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC). But now, Bescom has decided to continue using the software.

Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Managing Director, Bescom, said that Infosys had set right the error which was leading to faulty billing.

“When the matter was brought to the notice of the IT company, it dispatched a team to rectify the erroneous software,” he told Deccan Herald.

During the tariff revision hearing, Bescom had submitted that it was not satisfied with the software developed by Infosys and had stated to have received several complaints about variations in bills generated by the software, Pandey told KERC.

“We are not satisfied with the software. In fact, we had issued notices to them (Infosys) and even a penalty of Rs 9.33 crore has been levied. But nothing much has been done in this regard. Based on the complaints from consumers, we identified about 150 issues and asked them to sort it out. But, they were able to address only 85 of them. They blamed the servers for their problems,” he had stated on April 21 this year, before the Commission.

When the KERC asked Bescom why the software had not been changed despite several billing errors, the company had submitted that it is for the State government to take a decision on it.

The MD, Bescom, also stated that he will meet the Chief Secretary in this regard at the earliest and after a meeting with him, the company will go for an alternative software.

“The company has simplified lot of procedures and the software has now been customised,” said Pandey.