Customer service still a distant dream

power sector

While dedicated customer service centres have become a standard practice among utility service providers throughout the world, electricity suppliers in the country continue to lag behind in a big way.
In the absence of proper customer service management (CRM) in the electricity sector, customers have to face difficulty for lodging complaints or getting the appropriate service.
Nihad Ferdous, a banker by profession and a resident of Dhanmondi had problems with the electricity line to his house, but when he lodged a complaint at the Dhanmondi control room of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), no action was taken for two days.
“Ultimately, I had to visit the DPDC office and explain the problem thoroughly even though I did that twice after calling the control room number. What’s the point in having a control room number on the website if people answering the call don’t provide any service,” said Ferdous. Asruf Ul Jubaer, a resident of Uttara, said that he wanted to get some information regarding his electricity bills for which he visited the website of the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO).

“Interestingly, the website of DESCO has all the provision for customer service and they even have some numbers. I called one of those numbers and asked for the information. But none could provide me with that,” he said.
Shaheed Sarwar, Managing Director, DESCO, told The Independent that they don’t have a dedicated customer service centre to ensure CRM. “What we have is a dedicated group of people receiving complaints from customers who face difficulty or problems with electricity supply to their home or offices. We have that service in three shifts of eight hours each,” he said.
Sarwar informed that when they receive complaint from a customer in a particular area, the company sends the mobile service truck to fix the problem. “Those are called ‘gangs’. We send them to fix the problem,” he said. The MD of DESCO, however, admitted that there is no centralised monitoring system to ensure that the DESCO gang actually fixed the problem lodged by a customer on time.
A customer who preferred to remain unnamed told The Independent that he had lodged complaints twice times with DESCO after the electricity line to his house remained out of order for two days. The customer said that the DESCO gang came and charged money to fix the problem even though the power company was supposed to do that for free.
When Sarwar was informed about the case, he told The Independent that asking for money is illegal. He assured that actions will be taken against those who ask for money for providing such a service.
“We are trying to bring our customer service under an organised structure. We have plans to form a separate state-of-the-art customer service department, where DESCO customers can avail of one-stop service,” he said.
Talking to The Independent, Saiful Chowdhury, Director Communication, Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), said that the concept of customer service centre is not prevalent among electricity service providers in the country.
Almost all electricity service providers have zone-wise ‘hotline’ numbers on which customers can call to lodge a complaint, but this cannot be termed as a customer service centre. “BPDB has that too. Operators in different zonal offices receive complaints from customer that is forwarded to the respective department. Then the department takes the necessary action,” he said.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by Sri Lanka-based LIRNEasia and Dhaka-based pi Strategy Consulting said that 89 percent of customers in the country don’t know how to contact utility service providers and many of the customers said that they are too scared to complain.
The study found no specific examples of surveys or analysis on part of the distributors to identify unmet or latent needs of potential customers.
So far, none of the distributors have conducted any large scale surveys to collect usage data or done analysis to know their customers better, it said.
About e-services of electricity service providers, the study said that of the five electricity distributors, only the Rural Electrification Board (REB), the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO) and the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC) accept online application.
Only REB and DESCO accept online bill payment.  However, all five distributors, which also include the Power Development Board (PDB) and the West Zone Power Company Ltd (WZPDC), accept mobile bill payment.
Of the five, only REB does not have any load-shedding forecasting mechanism.
All distributors have helplines, while the PDB and the DESCO have launched pre-paid metering, said the study.
Pial Islam, Managing Partner, pi Strategy, said the most challenging task in CRM is complaint management. He recommended that local electricity distributors should improve the quality of customer services by embracing the experience of telecom operators.

Customer service still a distant dream

power sector

While dedicated customer service centres have become a standard practice among utility service providers throughout the world, electricity suppliers in the country continue to lag behind in a big way. In the absence of proper customer service management (CRM) in the electricity sector, customers have to face difficulty for lodging complaints or getting the appropriate service. Nihad Ferdous, a banker by profession and a resident of Dhanmondi had problems with the electricity line to his house, but when he lodged a complaint at the Dhanmondi control room of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), no action was taken for two days. Ultimately, I had to visit the DPDC office and explain the problem thoroughly even though I did that twice after calling the control room number. Whats the point in having a control room number on the website if people answering the call dont provide any service, said Ferdous. Asruf Ul Jubaer, a resident of Uttara, said that he wanted to get some information regarding his electricity bills for which he visited the website of the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO). Interestingly, the website of DESCO has all the provision for customer service and they even have some numbers. I called one of those numbers and asked for the information. But none could provide me with that, he said. Shaheed Sarwar, Managing Director, DESCO, told The Independent that they dont have a dedicated customer service centre to ensure CRM. What we have is a dedicated group of people receiving complaints from customers who face difficulty or problems with electricity supply to their home or offices. We have that service in three shifts of eight hours each, he said. Sarwar informed that when they receive complaint from a customer in a particular area, the company sends the mobile service truck to fix the problem. Those are called gangs. We send them to fix the problem, he said. The MD of DESCO, however, admitted that there is no centralised monitoring system to ensure that the DESCO gang actually fixed the problem lodged by a customer on time. A customer who preferred to remain unnamed told The Independent that he had lodged complaints twice times with DESCO after the electricity line to his house remained out of order for two days. The customer said that the DESCO gang came and charged money to fix the problem even though the power company was supposed to do that for free. When Sarwar was informed about the case, he told The Independent that asking for money is illegal. He assured that actions will be taken against those who ask for money for providing such a service. We are trying to bring our customer service under an organised structure. We have plans to form a separate state-of-the-art customer service department, where DESCO customers can avail of one-stop service, he said. Talking to The Independent, Saiful Chowdhury, Director Communication, Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), said that the concept of customer service centre is not prevalent among electricity service providers in the country. Almost all electricity service providers have zone-wise hotline numbers on which customers can call to lodge a complaint, but this cannot be termed as a customer service centre. BPDB has that too. Operators in different zonal offices receive complaints from customer that is forwarded to the respective department. Then the department takes the necessary action, he said. Meanwhile, a study conducted by Sri Lanka-based LIRNEasia and Dhaka-based pi Strategy Consulting said that 89 percent of customers in the country dont know how to contact utility service providers and many of the customers said that they are too scared to complain. The study found no specific examples of surveys or analysis on part of the distributors to identify unmet or latent needs of potential customers. So far, none of the distributors have conducted any large scale surveys to collect usage data or done analysis to know their customers better, it said. About e-services of electricity service providers, the study said that of the five electricity distributors, only the Rural Electrification Board (REB), the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO) and the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC) accept online application. Only REB and DESCO accept online bill payment. However, all five distributors, which also include the Power Development Board (PDB) and the West Zone Power Company Ltd (WZPDC), accept mobile bill payment. Of the five, only REB does not have any load-shedding forecasting mechanism. All distributors have helplines, while the PDB and the DESCO have launched pre-paid metering, said the study. Pial Islam, Managing Partner, pi Strategy, said the most challenging task in CRM is complaint management. He recommended that local electricity distributors should improve the quality of customer services by embracing the experience of telecom operators.