Karnataka - Bangalore   

Has BESCOM shot itself in the foot?

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE, AUG. 3. When a company has over 43,79,294 installations to service, with the largest chunk of 32,92,186 constituting domestic/all-electric home (AEH) consumers, how will it ensure quality service?

That is the dilemma facing the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) after it launched an `insurance scheme' to protect consumers' properties against instances "beyond its control."

A quick lesson

Last Sunday, BESCOM found out just how difficult it would be to put the scheme into practice.

Residents of Mahalakshmi Layout said a sudden power surge caused the fuses of many television sets to blow. When the area BESCOM engineer went to inspect the "affected" houses, the residents claimed that refrigerators, CD/DVD players, music systems and other electronic equipment had also been damaged. In one house, three television sets were reportedly damaged.

`Consumers at fault'

"The consumers have all heard about the new insurance scheme and all say they are eligible," the engineer had told The Hindu at the time.

But he maintained that the consumers were at fault for not installing earth leakage circuit breakers (ELCBs) in their homes.

This was mandatory for domestic/AEH consumers under the Electricity Supply and Distribution Code, he said. But though it was BESCOM's job to ensure that its consumers installed ELCBs, "... electrical contractors must advise consumers on the matter. They have not done so because they fear that they will not get any calls to do electrical repairs if ELCBs are put in," the engineer explained. BESCOM had been "very lenient" on the issue, he admitted.

This May, when BESCOM first mooted the idea of getting insurance cover for power consumers' equipment, officials said the insurance would be of three kinds — against natural calamities and related dangers; for Bescom's own lines and equipment and; against "potential liabilities" — trees falling on power lines, electrocutions and power surges damaging electrical equipment.

Precedent

One consumer has successfully sued BESCOM for such damage.

Early this year, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) ordered BESCOM to pay Rs. 33,000 to a Bangalore-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), which said its office equipment was damaged by a power surge.

BESCOM launched its new insurance scheme by paying a premium of Rs. 75.58 lakh, but its financial condition is not robust.

High distribution loss

As per its website, though the company earns a revenue of over Rs. 200 crores a month, its distribution loss averages 21.54 per cent a month.

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