HYDERABAD: “There was a HT (high tension) line that passed directly above the roof of many houses in our slum, posing grave threat to the occupants. For 35 years, no one listened to our complaint, and finally when a new assistant engineer took charge, he immediately solved the issue in two weeks. Such officials should be rewarded ”, said Zaheeruddin, a dweller of a slum near Banjara Hills, as he addressed the gathering during the Consumer Day celebrations organised by the Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Limited (APCPDCL).
An annual event conducted to build a good rapport between the power discom and consumers, the focus this year as on bringing to notice the availability of the Consumer Grievance Redressal forum and other customer service measures in place. G Anantha Ramu, chairman & managing director, APCPDCL said that the organisation would ensure that consumers received quality services and reliability in power supply.
“At present, the shortage of coal and natural gas and dipping water reservoir levels in the state is leading to the power crisis. The demand-supply gap is increasing at the rate of 10-15% annually, with a 5% increase in consumer numbers,” he said, adding that the maximum demand met by the corporation in the last fiscal was 5916 MW and maximum energy supplied was 117 MU.
APCPDCL has also initiated construction of 139 33/11 KV sub-stations with `208.50 cr, of which 52 have been constructed. He also brought to light the plan to improve customer services by GPRS mapping of customer residences for quicker response and reinforcement of existing old lines with new conductors. As many as 200 consumers took part in the programme.