Complaints have poured in against Kolkata’s monopoly power supplier in the past few days as power outrages combined with searing heat made life miserable.
The Telegraph collates the peeve points from social media posts.
Ineffective helpline
Many complained that the CESC helpline was “not working.”
- “CESC reached a dead end nothing working out every day power cut, What the hell is happening?? 1912 not working, worst power supply organisation shame on you..” Arpan Chakraborty tweeted on June 8.
- J. Prasad had reported on Tweeter on June 1 about a power outage in the Airport City Complex. “There is power outage in Airport City Complex for more than 02 hours. Docket has been done unfortunately no revert from CESC yet. 1912 is not helpful at all. No direct number given in app as well as website. Seems we are living in stone age. Pls help.”
- Vishwaroop took to Twitter on June 6 complaining how he struggled for 15 minutes to report an outage but failed to establish a connection with any official even after dialling multiple helplines of CESC. “it’s already half an hour, no electricity in scratching heat, tried 03335011912, 18605001912, 1912, with 15mins IVR, no customer care connection. What’s this sir, paying high charges to ur CESC and this is the service.”
CESC officials said they were equipped to handle 1,000 phone calls simultaneously through three helplines. “We have 160 agents who are manning the helpline numbers. If all of them are busy attending calls, then the IVR interacts with the other callers,” said a CESC official.
Repeated outages
Several CESC consumers complained of repeated outages in their neighbourhoods.
- Sugata Chowdhuri tweeted on June 4 the dates and duration of power outages in his neighbourhood between June 1 and 3. “The Power cut date, time & duration (approx) 1st June - 11:50pm for 2 hrs 06 min; 2nd June - 11:30pm for 50 min; 3rd June - 11:50pm for 44 min. If the #cesc team can’t resolve it in 3 days then it is a definitely a big problems. Resolve those & Give proper service.”
- Subhojit Dutta of Nirmal Sengupta Sarani complained of repeated outages in his locality on June 4. He tweeted: “Daily Power cut?? 27 Nirmal Sengupta Sarani..PinCode 700079..11:30pm to midnight...Is this planned??? Everyday same time..LP-161/8/1/3.”
CESC officials attributed the majority of the outages in the city to power consumption beyond the sanctioned load. “We have identified eight to 10 locations where frequent power consumption beyond the sanctioned load is causing power outage in the entire neighbourhood. We will try to create more awareness in those areas,” a CESC official said.