CESC, which supplies electricity in Calcutta and adjoining areas, has automated the backend process to reduce the time taken to provide a new connection.
The company is using bots which are capable of scanning various data points that are assessed by the utility before giving new connections to customers. As a result, CESC is providing new meters to customers within 48 hours of taking payments.
“We are using technology to enhance the ease of doing business. Previously, we had moved the entire process of applications online. Now, we have tested automating the backend process of accepting new applications and it is now put to use. Consequently, the time taken to give a new application has come down sharply,” Debasish Banerjee, managing director of CESC (distributions), said.
The utility has about 36 lakh customers in the licensed area in and around Calcutta. On an average, it gets about 1 lakh new applications annually (new connection, increased load). Around 50 per cent of the utility’s connections are in the domestic segment and the other half comprise commercial and industrial segments.
Once the applicant submits the relevant documents online, the bot scans the data points quickly, replacing the need to manually check, which would be time consuming. In the instance where physical verification is not required to process applications, the time required to give a new application will be even faster.
Those who struggle to make online applications are assisted by the company at regional offices to do so. Required documents are scanned and returned to the customer while the utility keeps only digital records, which in turn are processed by bots for further actions.
However, the utility sometimes encounters last mile connectivity issues which cannot be fixed in two days. “It could be at the customer’s end, who may be not prepared to take the connection or sometime at our end, due to specific on ground issues. However, those are exceptions. Usually, we are processing within two days of payment,” a company official clarified.
