Electricity department to go the e-way

PUDUCHERRY: As part of its efforts to improve consumer services, the electricity department will soon have an online automated customer care service (CCS), said R Murali, executive engineer - I, here on Friday. He said that the CCS would function round the clock and handle services such as fault repairs, billing, replacement of meters, etc. Customers can make use of the service for bill payments and to check the status of their applications. Complaints could be sent from any of the four regions of the Union Territory, he said.  Explaining further, Murali said that on receipt of a complaint, the junior engineer (JE) of the area would get an intimation, based on which the fault would be attended to. Once the repair work is completed, the JE would inform the CCS, which would, in turn, generate a response to the customer about rectification of the problem.The CCS is being established along with Tamil Nadu under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development Programme (RAPDP) by a common agency.  A common data centre and communication centre with a common software for both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would be established in Chennai as part of Tamil Nadu’s information and data management system.   A joint loan would be availed for the implementation of the project and Puducherry’s share in that would be Rs 15.11 crore, Murali said. The project is expected to be completed by December 2012 in Puducherry, he added. Till such time, consumers in town areas can call 0413-22227174 and 23363615 to register their complaints.