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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

An Assessment of BESCOM Services

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

An Assessment of
BESCOM Services

K. Prabhakar
Meena Nair

A study done for the


Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM)
JULY 2013

PUBLIC AFFAIRS CENTRE


BANGALORE, INDIA

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

An Assessment of BESCOM Services


Study by K. Prabhakar and Meena Nair
Public Affairs Centre
for
Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd.

ISBN: 978-81-88816-28-6

Public Affairs Centre (PAC) is a not-for-profit organization, established in 1994 that is


dedicated to improving the quality of governance in India. The focus of PAC is primarily
in areas where citizens and civil society organizations can play a proactive role in improving
governance. In this regard, PAC undertakes and supports research, disseminates research
findings, facilitates collective citizen action through awareness raising and capacity building
activities, and provides advisory services to state and non-state agencies.

Public Affairs Centre


No. 15, KIADB Industrial Area
Bommasandra – Jigani Link Road
Bangalore 562106 India
Phone: +91 80 2783 9918/19/20
Email: mail@pacindia.org
Web: pacindia.org

© 2013 Public Affairs Centre


Published by PAC with the support of International Development Research Centre –
Think Tank Initiative (IDRC-TTI)

Some rights reserved. Content in this publication can be freely shared, distributed, or
adapted. However, any work, adapted or otherwise, derived from this publication must
be attributed to Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore. This work may not be used for
commercial purposes.

Cover Design: PAC Team


Printed in Bangalore at National Printing Press

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Contents

Foreword 9

Preface 11

Executive Summary 13

Chapter 1: Introduction 19

Chapter 2: Feedback from Users 25

Chapter 3: Feedback from BESCOM Staff 43

Chapter 4: Conclusions and Policy Recommendations 61

Chapter 5: Follow-up Action 65

Annexure 1: Sampling Design 70

Annexure 2: Tables on User Feedback 73

Annexure 3: Tables on BESCOM Feedback 81

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

List of Tables
Table1.1: Sample size for survey 22
Table1.2: Proportionate allocation of BESCOM offices at the Zonal level 22
Table1.3: Proportionate allocation at Sub-Divisions & O&M office level 23
Table 2.1 - Profile of users across Zones – selected features 25
Table 2.2 - Usage of electrical appliances across Circles & Zones
(Values in %) 26
Table 2.3 - Usage of different types of electrical bulbs 27
Table 2.4: Average yearly maintenance for coping mechanisms (Rs.) 27
Table 2.5: Approach to BESCOM to get a connection across Circles
and Zones (%) 29
Table 2.6: Power cuts across Circles and Zones (%) 32
Table 2.7: Mode of payment of electricity bills across Circles and Zones (%) 34
Table 2.8: Type of problems across Zones (%) 35
Table 2.9: Satisfaction with quality of service across Circles and Zones (%)
Table 2.10: Reasons for dissatisfaction & Suggestions for Improvements 40
Table 2.11: Improvements observed 41
Table 3.1: Composition of interviewed staff 44
Table3.2: Average number of consumers served 44
Table3.3: Reasons for not effectively discharging duties (multiple responses) 46
Table3.4: Details of safety tools received by BESCOM staff 47
Table 3.5: Suggestions to reduce peak load in peak hours
(multiple responses received) 50
Table 3.7 Required staff by levels across Circles & Zones 57
Table 3.6: Reasons for dissatisfaction & Suggestions for Improvements 60

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

List of Charts
Chart 2.1 – Type of energy meters (%) 28
Chart 2.2 Receipt received for amount paid (%) 29
Chart 2.3: Ease of getting connection across Circles & Zones (%) 31
Chart 2.4 : Efficiency of BESCOM staff (%) 36
Chart 2.5 : Satisfaction with different aspects of responsiveness of staff (%) 37
Chart 2.6 : Problem Incidence & Problem Resolution across Circles
and Zones 38
Chart 2.7 : Overall satifaction across Circles and Zones (%) 40
Chart 2.8: Advertisements regarding power savings (%) 42
Chart 3.1: Average hours of work in a day (%) 46
Chart 3.2: Proportion of respondents rating excellent/good
support from officers (%) 51
Chart 3.3: Approval of sanction after submission of application (%) 54
Chart 3.4: Proportion of respondents issuing acknowledgement
to complainants 55
Chart 3.5 : Overall satifaction across Circles and Zones 57

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Acknowledgments
We are indebted to many individuals and organizations that helped us to complete this
study successfully. We take this opportunity to place on record our gratitude to them,
especially the following:
w Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, Government of Karnataka for funding the
study.
w The Managing Director of BESCOM, Sri. P. Manivannan, IAS, and the core team
of BESCOM comprising Sri. L. Ravi (GM–Corporate Affairs, Corporate Office),
Smt. Jayanthi N. (GM–Customer Relations, Corporate Office), Sri James Philip
(DGM–2, Corporate Affairs), Sri Bhanu Prakash (AGM–Customer Relations,
Corporate Office) and Sri. Asha Kotian (AE–Customer Relations, Corporate Office)
for their valuable guidance to the PAC–PGRG Study Team at different stages of the
study.
w The AEE/AE and staff of the Sub-division and O&M offices of Anekal town, Jigani
and Gauribidanur offices for cooperating with us and providing valuable inputs at
the preparatory stage of our study, that shaped our data collection instruments.
w Our field work partner-organizations that helped us in our previous field assignments
as well – Mr.Udayakumar and his team, Bangalore and SAMANVAYA, Shimoga,
for carrying out the field survey successfully and Mr. Gnaneshwar S., Bangalore for
carrying out the data entry.
w The 600 BESCOM staff personnel who shared their experiences and viewpoints
with us and other high-level officers who provided support to our field teams to help
the Sub-division and O&M offices share their records and documents with us.
w All the 2000 users who gave their time and shared their experiences with us thus
providing us with information that helped us to assess the quality of service delivery
provided by BESCOM.
w The founder of Public Affairs Centre, Dr. Samuel Paul for his constant support and
guidance throughout the study; our Director Mr. R. Suresh, for his suggestions on the
draft report and Mr. Gurudatt Hegde who volunteered for this study, especially for
helping us in the Kannada translation, field monitoring and drafting of some chapters.
w Our colleagues Ms. Prarthana Rao and Dr. Sreedharan for their support during
the study period.
While we are indebted to the individuals mentioned above for their contribution, we the
authors are solely responsible for the opinions expressed herein and errors, if any.
Dr. K. Prabhakar
Dr. Meena Nair

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Foreword

It is a surprising fact that public institutions that serve the public do not have any
mechanism to get feedback from the public! It would mean that course correction
hardly takes place in public institutions, leaving the steering in the hands of temporarily
elected leaders or with a bureaucrat, who is generally disengaged with the public
perception.
In fact, if all public institutions have a feedback mechanism which can aid the process
of course correction, then, they will be much more efficient and relevant than what
they are now. It is in this background, the ‘report-card’ approach of Public Affairs
Centre, assumes significance. Indeed, such ‘report cards’ are a must, at least once in
three years, if not every year.
BESCOM learnt a lot from this report card and it is now helping us in course correction.
The next report card on BESCOM will stand as a proof of the contribution of the
report card in making BESCOM more efficient and relevant to its consumers.
I thank PAC and the BESCOM team, led by Ms. Jayanthi, GM–CR for undertaking
this meaningful work.
July 2013 P. Manivannan
MD, BESCOM

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Preface

BESCOM deserves to be commended for seeking feedback from its users and staff
on its policies and services, using the “report card” approach of Public Affairs Centre
(PAC). It is equally encouraging that its management plans to use the findings of this
study to take corrective steps and improve its services and responsiveness to users.
There are very few public service providers who take the initiative to assess their
performance taking into account a citizen’s perspective. The Citizen Report Card
(CRC) approach that we have used in this study has gathered information from both
the users and the staff of BESCOM to ensure that a balanced assessment is presented
for BESCOM to take action. We hope that this study will encourage and motivate
many other service providers and departments of government to initiate and make
use of similar exercises on a periodic basis.
The findings of this study can also be used to inform and educate both citizens and
the staff of public organisations. When the report is made public or the media
comments on the findings and the corrective actions taken, the public at large and
the staff of the agency will be able to develop confidence in what the management
plans to do about their problems. When such audits are repeated, people will also
be able to give the organisation feedback on how well its reforms are working.
Ministers, principal secretaries, regulators and civic groups will thus gain a much
better understanding of the “state of our public services” through the adoption of
this approach.
At PAC, this project was led by a team consisting of Dr. Meena Nair and Dr. K.
Prabhakar. They were assisted by Ms. Prarthana Rao and Mr. Gurudatt Hegde. We
are grateful to them for the timely completion of this project and the final report.
Above all, we thank Mr. Manivannan, MD, BESCOM for entrusting this project to
PAC.
July 2013 R. Suresh
Director, Public Affairs Centre

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Executive Summary

This report summarizes the findings of the study “Assessment of BESCOM Services”
undertaken by Public Affairs Centre at the request of the Bangalore Electricity Supply
Company (BESCOM), Government of Karnataka.
The objectives of this study were:
1. To systematically assess the quality, responsiveness and outcomes of basic
services provided by sub-divisional and section/unit offices to the public;
2. To generate a better understanding of problems and constraints being faced
by the BESCOM staff in their role as service provider to the community, and
3. To assist BESCOM to use the information and knowledge generated through
the study so that actionable policies and remedies can be formulated.
The scope of the study was limited to the services of sub-divisional and section/unit
offices (among the various levels of BESCOM offices), as they are focal points for
providing assistance to citizens for better service delivery and redress of their grievances.
The study also limited itself to household users of BESCOM services and not
commercial and industrial establishments, which requires a different sampling and
questionnaire design and can be taken up by PAC, if required, by BESCOM.
The methodology of this study was as follows:
1. The Research Design that comprised,
a. Preparatory activities that included drawing up a core team comprising top
officials from BESCOM and senior advisors from PAC who provided guidance
and support, literature review, preliminary field visits and observations and
preliminary meetings between BESCOM and PAC;
b. Data collection instruments that included interview schedules for BESCOM
personnel and interview schedules for users;

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

c. Sampling design that covered all the eight Circles and three Zones represented
through randomly selected 100 Sub-divisions and O&M offices. Six BESCOM
staff personnel working at various levels and 20 users were randomly selected
from every selected Sub-division and O&M office bringing the total sample
size to 600 BESCOM staff personnel interviews and 2000 user interviews.
2. The Field Design that included,
a. The field work that was carried out by a survey organization/NGO partner
appointed and supervised by PAC;
b. Two-day comprehensive training programmes conducted in Bangalore (29-30
November 2012) and Shimoga (3-4 December 2012). The training programme
involved briefing on the data collection instruments, mock call exercises and
pilot field visits, and
c. Quality monitoring during the course of field work – PAC research team
consistently monitored the field work through field visits and carried out
spot checks and back checks and on-site scrutiny of filled-in questionnaires.
The team supervisors also kept in contact with the PAC team for updates on
a daily basis. Another round of random scrutiny was carried out once the
questionnaires were received at PAC before data entry.
3. Data Analysis and Interpretation that included,
a. Data entry for the 2,600 interviews, carried out by a professional agency based
at Bangalore. The reliability of estimate presented in this report is significant
at 95 percent confidence level. The margin of error is +/–2.7 percent;
b. Presentation of the findings from the study to senior officials of BESCOM on
27 March 2013. The presentation was followed by a brief discussion among
the officials and feedback was given by the MD, BESCOM, Mr. Manivannan
on the findings and also the immediate actions that can be initiated in response
to some of the findings, and
c. Preparation of the report elaborating the findings with policy conclusions
and submitted to BESCOM subsequently.
The study was completed in six months and the findings were presented to BESCOM.
The table below presents the salient positive findings in brief about BESCOM (based
on the feedback from both users and the staff).

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

BESCOM Consumers BESCOM Staff


w Around two-thirds (60 percent) of w 47 percent of staff who were
users feel that it is easy to get a new interviewed said they got their weekly
electricity connection and – this was holidays regularly, while 40 percent
reported the most in South (82 of them got it whenever required.
percent), East (77 percent), North (73
percent) Circles. w Almost all (97 percent) of the staff
said that they received safety tools
w 40 percent of users said that they never
from BESCOM.
faced any voltage fluctuations.
w 91 percent of the staff underwent
w More than 99 percent of users said that
they regularly receive electricity bill training programmes (apart from
every month and almost same induction training programme) in
number (92 percent) said that the bills the last three years.
they received were accurate. w Nearly 85 percent of the staff said
w More than 96 percent of the users said that they were satisfied with the
that the timings of payment of current mechanism of recognizing
electricity bills are convenient. good work.
w Two-thirds (66 percent) of users said w 76 percent of staff said that they were
that efficacy of staff in dealing with getting necessary support from their
problems was excellent or good. reporting/higher officers and, of
w 71 percent of the respondents said that them, 78 percent rated excellent/
their problems were resolved after good support from their higher
contacting BESCOM. Among these officers.
users, 46 percent said that their w Nearly 96 percent of the staff said
problem was resolved on the same day. that they did not face any problems
w Nearly 98 percent of users said that while performing their duty in the
they did not pay any extra money in last one year.
the past one year to BESCOM staff
w 98 percent of those interviewed are
for dealing with any specific problem.
satisfied with the performance of
w Around one-fifth (20 percent) of users BESCOM and 94 percent said that
noticed improvements in the quality they were completely satisfied with
of service by BESCOM in the past their job in BESCOM.
one year.
w More than two-thirds (68 percent) of
users had seen BESCOM’s recent
advertise-ments regarding power-saving
methods.

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

The other major detailed findings and policy conclusions are summarized below:
1. Getting a connection: Our findings show that only less than one-fourth (24 percent)
of the users interacted directly with the BESCOM office to get a new connection,
while more than three-fourths (76 percent) approached the intermediary/
middleman/a third party to get a new connection which led to an extra monetary
burden on consumers. This reflects the need to take necessary action to either
reduce or remove involvement of middlemen for getting a connection by simplifying
the application process (40 percent reported that the application process is difficult),
and using new technology (applying online).
2. Low awareness levels regarding power saving: More than half the number of users
said that they are using at least two incandescent bulbs (which consume more
power) even though there have been campaigns and awareness programmes to stop
using them. Renewed efforts need to be made to increase awareness of using power-
saving devices, thus bringing down electricity consumption and costs.
3. Forced expenditure to maintain coping mechanisms: To cope with power cuts and
voltage fluctuations, almost half the number of consumers (47 percent) interviewed
are using coping strategies to support electrical appliances, which have led to forced
expenditure to maintain these peripherals even though they are paying money to
get uninterrupted and quality power supply.
4. Existence of corruption: During the course of getting a connection, one-fifth (20
percent) of the users have not received any receipt while 11 percent received receipts
for partial amount paid. This clearly shows the existence of an unaccountable money-
taking practice from consumers, which is reflected in the low levels of satisfaction
ratings by those consumers. The existence of this pattern of external corruption has
also been agreed to by the BESCOM personnel, albeit an under-reported 14 percent
of the staff.
5. Problem incidence and resolution: Almost one-third (31 percent) had a problem
with some aspects of BESCOM’s service delivery, However, except BMAZ Zone,
less than half the number of users elsewhere
Lack of availability of
contacted BESCOM office to get their problems information with staff and time
resolved, of those almost three-fourth (71 percent) taken to attend to problem are
got their problems resolved. High problems were matters of concern among those
reported in Kolar and Tumkur Circles with latter who visited the BESCOM offices.
reporting low problem resolution. In spite of
problems, there is less frequency of complaint lodging due to lack of awareness and
use of informal channels.
6. Poor awareness regarding BESCOM’s information channels: Abysmal awareness
levels of BESCOM’s information channels such as their information booklet (5

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

percent), Customer Interaction Meetings (0.2 percent), and BESCOM website (0.4
percent) indicate low levels of efforts towards information dissemination by
BESCOM for its consumers. All-out efforts need to be made to showcase the
department as user-friendly and being accountable to its consumers.
7. Work overload and multi-tasking: On average, each sub-division addresses 83,068
consumers and each O&M addresses 39,305 consumers. As of now, at all levels
there is a shortage (27 percent) of working strength as against sanctioned strength
and this gap is highest among the ALM/LJM (39 percent) and lineman (29 percent)
cadres.
With an insufficient workforce, additional burden is put on the current working
staff who are reportedly working near-round-the-clock (17-24 hours) conditions,
especially in Tumkur, Davangere, Bangalore Rural
and Kolar Circles. On the whole, each office Work overload seems to be the
single biggest issue with
requires a minimum of 13 persons at all levels to
BESCOM staff personnel. This is
meet consumer expectations for better service further aggravated by the failure
delivery. Mix of duties including maintenance to fill sanctioned posts.
of lines (75 percent), addressing consumer
grievances (56 percent), revenue collection (51 percent), action for prevention of
theft (43 percent), receiving of applications (32 percent) and meter readings (22
percent) indicate major multi-tasking as part of the work culture.
To meet BESCOM guidelines for consumer grievances, more than half (55 percent)
of those interviewed reported that, with current office strength, they are not able to
manage all deliverables, needing not only more people but also quality material for
better service delivery. There is clear evidence that work overload, gaps in sanctioned
and working staff, lack of adequate materials, and low quality materials contribute
to the problems highlighted by the users. It could well be that these problems are
more severe in some regions than others.
8. Support and loyalty among BESCOM personnel: Among the staff, there are both
positive and negative reflections. Most of the staff got their weekly holidays whenever
required.
Timely supply of safety tools and the quality of these tools were found to be good
among those who required them. But in each office only 44 percent of the staff
received safety tools while the rest are yet to receive them. About 60 percent received
the walkie-talkie, of them three-fourths received training in how to use them. Most
of the staff members attended different training programmes and felt that these
programmes were useful. Appreciation was received by one-third (33 percent) for
work done so far; this is an area that could see improvement. Most of the staff
members interviewed also reported getting good support from their superior officers

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

and gives them more enthusiasm to work in the department. However, influence
from outside sources does seem to have affected their work as it has often been a
hindrance to their routine work.
This study clearly showed very low levels of awareness about funds received by each
office for various purposes, pointing towards a need to make efforts to make the
staff more knowledgeable about reforms, policy changes with action taken messages.
Around two-thirds (60 percent) of the staff interviewed said that they have observed
some positive changes over the past three years within the department in terms of
improvement in giving good service to the public (29 percent), improvement in
revenue collection (17 percent), regular power supply (12 percent), providing vehicles
(12 percent), providing safety material (10 percent), improvement in poles/lines/
cables (9 percent), getting the required quality material and improvement in supply
of transformers (8 percent).
An encouraging finding is the high levels of trust and satisfaction shown by staff
with the department, which opens the door to improve efficiency and productiveness
of the staff with their support. This is an asset on which the department can build,
in order to achieve better performance. That such high level of loyalty and trust has
been displayed or conveyed by the staff is commendable as their work-related
problems as discussed elsewhere are not insignificant.
9. Satisfaction contrasts between users and personnel: One of the interesting findings
of the study is the contrast between the satisfaction levels indicated by BESCOM
staff as opposed to the satisfaction levels of the users. While only 52 percent of the
users have indicated complete satisfaction with their interaction with the department,
the satisfaction of the staff with their performance is much higher (94 percent). It is
important to understand that the assessment of the users reflects their experience
with the services they obtain at the Sub-division or O&M offices and since BESCOM
is a service delivery entity, it needs to find ways to improve consumer satisfaction
and not take comfort in the reported high levels of satisfaction mentioned by the
staff.
10. Wide regional variations: There are wide regional variations on various aspects of
service delivery across the Zones. It would be good to target those weak areas in the
system in each of the Zones. Some of them include – the CTAZ Zone especially
reflects the highest proportion of problem from the respondents – more power
cuts, unscheduled power cuts, difficulty in getting a connection, lack of immediate
response. Since Circles and Zones vary in their socio-economic conditions and
levels of development, there is a need to pay greater attention to the quality of
management, supervision, and the types of training being provided in the Circles
and the Zones.

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Introduction

The Government of Karnataka embarked on an optimistic policy of introducing reforms


in the power sector of Karnataka in 1999 by enacting the Karnataka Reforms Act. In
the first step the erstwhile Karnataka Electricity Board, which was responsible for
power transmission and distribution in the state of Karnataka was incorporated into
Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) as on 1 August 1999.
Subsequently, transmission and distribution functions of KPTCL were separated.
KPTCL remained as a transmission company. Distribution of power was entrusted to
four regional distribution companies on 1 June 2002, namley, BESCOM, HESCOM,
MESCOM and GESCOM. One more distribution company was formed in Mysore
on 1 April 2005 by bifurcating Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd.

Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd. and the Study


Bangalore Electricity Supply Company which came into existence in 2002 as part of
the reform process has been entrusted with distribution of power in eight districts of
the State, namley Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Kolar, Tumkur, Ramnagar,
Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga and Davanagere districts. It has three operating Zones –
Bangalore Metropolitan Area Zone (BMAZ), Bangalore Rural Area Zone (BRAZ) and
Chitradurga Zone (CTAZ). BESCOM covers an area of 41,092 sq. km with a population
of over 207 lakh.1 The three operating zones are further divided into eight Circles, 27
divisions, 115 sub-divisions and 444 section offices, with the lowest two levels having
the maximum interaction with the consumers.2
Electricity is an essential public service and the daily life of people depend heavily on
it. The present study aimed to assess the quality of electricity supply at two levels: at
the consumers level and at the BESCOM level. The survey of users focused on quality
1
http://bescom.org/en/know-about-bescom/
2
From http://bescom.org/en/statistic/ (as on 11.2.2013)

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

and reliability of electricity supply, problems associated with electricity supply, resolution
of problems, satisfaction regarding service delivery and suggestions for improvement,
while the survey of BESCOM personnel concentrated on job aspects, support from
department and community, responsiveness, efficiency, corruption, satisfaction and
suggestions for improvement. The survey was conducted in all the three zones of
BESCOM in order to understand the quality of services comprehensively.
Public Affairs Centre (PAC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the cause of
improving the quality of governance in India. PAC is known for its pioneering work on
Citizen Report Cards (CRCs) not only in India but also internationally. PAC has
generated or published over 60 reports on various cities and towns in India and more
than a dozen in other parts of the world. Government of India and several states
governments have engaged PACto undertake social audits in several departments and
sectors.
The Citizen Report Card is a simple and powerful tool to understand various qualitative
and quantitative aspects of service delivery of government agencies. It follows a ‘bottom-
up’ approach to reflect information about users’ awareness, access, usage and satisfaction
in order to assess public services effectively. Thereafter, CRC takes one step ahead and
undertakes a complete stakeholder audit by including service providers and community
representatives. This brings about a balanced approach and ensures comprehensiveness
of the assessment of the public service.

Scope and Objectives of the Study


The objectives of this study were to:
1. Systematically assess the quality, responsiveness and outcomes of basic services
provided by sub-divisional and section/unit office to the public.
2. Generate a better understanding of problems and constraints faced by BESCOM
staff in their role as service provider to the community.
3. Assist BESCOM to use the information and knowledge generated through the
study so that actionable policies and remedies can be formulated.
The scope of the study was limited to the services of sub-divisional and section/unit
offices (among the various levels of BESCOM offices), as they are focal points for
providing assistance to citizens for better service delivery and redress of their grievances.
Thus, this assessment of delivery of services at the level of sub-divisional and section/
unit offices was done through a random sample survey of users and BESCOM staff.
The survey of users focused on their experience in applying for connection and resolving
their grievances/problems and thus shed much needed light on an area where the
department spends a major part of its resources and deploys large numbers of its

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

manpower. Interviews with BESCOM staff elicited their views on how well they were
able to process and settle users’ problems and the difficulties and constraints they
faced in the course of this work.

Methodology
Research Design
The research design of the study involved the following steps:
a. Preparatory activities
The PAC study team met with the BESCOM officials at various levels to understand
the norms followed for dealing with receiving applications for power supply; forwarding
the application to the sanctioning authority; releasing service connections; maintaining
lines; attending to consumer complaints regarding power supply in terms of its quality
and other technical matters, and action taken on complaints.
b. Questionnaire design
Questionnaires, designed for the BESCOM staff assessment formed the base and were
modified to suit contextual requirements. The data collection instruments included,
a. Interview schedule for BESCOM personnel, and
b. Interview schedule for BESCOM users.
The scope of data collection instruments covered the following:
w Usage of the service
w Service quality and reliability
w Problems and resolution
w Corruption
w Satisfaction
w Suggestions
Along with these, the interview schedule for BESCOM staff also included their job
aspects, support from department and community, responsiveness and observation of
infrastructure.
c. Sampling design
There are 568 sub-division and section/unit offices under BESCOM jurisdiction (115
sub divisions and 453 section/unit offices).3 The study covered 100 sub-division and
section/unit offices through random selection representing all three Zones and all
eight Circles of BESCOM.
3
From http://www.bescom.org/

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

As per the hierarchy of BESCOM staff at the sub-divisional and section/unit office
levels in an office, 6 members of BESCOM staff per office were interviewed:
1. Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE)
2. Assistant Engineer (AE)/Junior Engineer (JE),
3. Mechanic Grade 1/Mechanic Grade 2,
4. Lineman,
5. Assistant Lineman and
6. Overseer/Meter Reader/Operator.
Among the users, 20 recent users were selected from the database or register kept at
each of the selected offices and were interviewed in their homes. If the sample universe
is taken, then the total sample size was:
Table1.1: Sample size for survey

Sl. No. Details of interviews Numbers


1 Total number of BESCOM offices (Sub-division/O&M) 100
BESCOM offices in BMAZ 32
BESCOM offices in BRAZ 33
BESCOM offices in CTAZ 35
2 Interviews with BESCOM staff 600
BESCOM staff per office 6
3 Interviews with users 2000
Users per sub-divisional office/O&M 20
Total interviews 2600

Table1.2: Proportionate allocation of BESCOM offices at the Zonal level


Zone Total number of Allocated Sample
Sub-divisions and (proportionate)
O&M Offices
Bangalore Metropolitan
Area Zone (BMAZ) 178 32
Bangalore Rural Area
Zone (BRAZ) 186 33
Chitradurga Zone 195 35
Total 559 100

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Table 1.2 provides the rationale for the selection of proportionate number of sample
to the actual universe at the Zonal level while Table 1.3 reflects the sample allocation
at the lower levels.

Table1.3: Proportionate allocation at Sub-Divisions & O&M office level


BMAZ BRAZ CTAZ ALL
CIRCLE SOUTH EAST NORTH WEST BRC1 KOL2 TUM 3 DAV4 CIRCLES
Circle
Allocation 8 8 8 8 16 17 17 18 100
Sub-
Divisions 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 5 23
Unit/
Section
Office 6 6 6 6 13 14 13 13 77

1
Bangalore Rural, 2Kolar, 3Tumkur, 4Davanagere

d. Field work and quality assurance


The surveys, at the selected offices and their jurisdictions (both BESCOM staff and
consumers) were carried out by a survey organization/NGO partner appointed and
supervised by PAC. A two-day comprehensive training programme was conducted in
Bangalore (29-30 November 2012) and in Shimoga (3-4 December 2012). The training
programme involved briefing on the data collection instruments, mock call exercises
and pilot field visits. The actual field survey commenced immediately after the training
programme and was completed by January 15, in all the selected BESCOM offices.
The field survey was closely monitored by the PAC Study Team through spot checks,
back checks and on-site scrutiny of the data collection instruments. The field supervisors
provided updates to the PAC team on a daily basis. Another round of detailed scrutiny
was carried out by the PAC team once the questionnaires were received at PAC office,
in close association with the field supervisors. Then, the data was forwarded for data
entry.
e. Data entry, analysis and report writing
Data collected from the 2,600 interviewees were fed into the computer by a Bangalore-
based professional agency. The reliability of estimate presented in this report is significant
at 95 percent confidence level. The margin of error is +/–2.7 percent.
f. Presentation of findings
The findings from the study were presented to senior officials of BESCOM on 27
February 2013. The presentation was followed by a brief discussion among the officials

23
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

and feedback was given by the MD, BESCOM, with suggestions for immediate action
that can be initiated in response to some of the findings.
Structure of the Report
The report is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is on the background of the
study which details out the project objectives, the methodology and the sampling
details. The second chapter presents findings from the feedback collected from
BESCOM users. The third chapter provides findings from the feedback collected from
BESCOM staff and the fourth presents the conclusions and recommendations.

24
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Feedback from Users

Electricity is an essential service and its impact on everyday life is immense. Services of
BESCOM affect lives of people of eight districts of Karnataka. For the present survey,
users who subscribed to electricity connection in the last three years from BESCOM
were selected. This time period ensured that users could recall their experiences with
BESCOM, since the time they applied for a new electricity connection, till today. To
conduct a detailed spatial interpretation, feedback from the users was analysed both at
the Circle and at the Zonal level.

Profile of Users
w Type of area: In terms of rural–urban composition, nearly 46 percent of the area
covered under the study was urban and the rest was rural (54 percent). Among the
three Zones, BMAZ was predominantly urban (94 percent) compared to BRAZ (25
percent) and CTAZ (21 percent).
w Gender and age group: Two-thirds of the respondents were men while the rest
were women. The average age of respondents was 40 years.
w Religion and caste: Around 91 percent of the respondents were Hindus and 6
percent were Muslims. The caste composition consisted of Forward Castes (21
percent), Backward Castes (61 percent), Scheduled Castes (13 percent) and Scheduled
Tribes (6 percent).
w Education: About 11 percent of the respondents were illiterate, 24 percent had
completed middle/primary education, 41 percent had completed secondary/PUC
education and 22 percent were graduates and post-graduates.
w Occupation: Less than one-fifth of the respondents were farmers (18 percent), 10
percent were non-agricultural labourers, 20 percent were self-employed and 26
percent were working in the service sector (government/private).
w Family size and annual income: Median of the total family size was five in all three

25
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Zones. Annual income in the three Zones showed sharp economic inequalities in
urban and rural areas of Karnataka. Only two percent of the respondents in BMAZ
were BPL, while 14 percent in BRAZ and 58 percent in CTAZ had respondents
belonging to BPL category. Total proportion of respondents belonging to BPL
category was 26 percent, considering the average of all three Zones.

Table 2.1 - Profile of users across Zones – selected features


Category BMAZ BRAZ CTAZ Total
Illiterates (%) 3.8 13.9 16.0 11.4
Graduates and above (%) 36.4 15.2 14.3 21.7
Cultivators/agri and non-agri labourers/
both (%) 3.1 32.6 52.5 30.2
SC / ST (%) 10.7 16.9 28.1 18.9
Users under BPL category 1.7 14.2 57.7 25.5

Consumer Pattern on Usage of Electrical Appliances and Bulbs


Some important highlights of electricity usage and its pattern are as follows:
w Televisions (97 percent), followed by pumps for water storage (38 percent), washing
machine (19 percent), computers (19 percent) and geysers (11 percent) comprised
the most commonly used household electrical appliances.
Table 2.2 - Usage of electrical appliances across Circles & Zones (Values in %)

Name of the Circle Name of


the Zone
SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
N 160 160 160 160 320 340 340 360 640 660 700 2000
Television 99 100 98 98 96 98 98 93 99 97 95 97
Motor/pump 64 88 69 63 28 16 32 14 71 22 23 38
Washing Machine 38 54 39 45 10 7 8 5 44 8 7 19
Computer 31 35 28 28 7 8 5 3 30 7 4 14
Geyser 23 36 27 22 6 3 1 4 27 5 3 11
Water purifier 13 21 13 14 4 1 3 1 15 3 2 7
Microwave/Oven 9 23 16 21 3 1 1 1 17 2 1 6
Air conditioner/
Water coolers 4 5 6 8 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 2
SO=South; EA=East; NO=North; WE=West; B(R)=Bangalore (Rural); KO=Kolar; TU=Tumkur; DA=Davangere;
BM=Banglore Metropolitan; BR=Bangalore Rural; CT=Chitradurga; BES=BESCOM

26
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

w There is high usage of incandescent bulbs (42 percent) in spite of availability of


energy-saving alternatives.

Table 2.3 - Usage of different types of electrical bulbs


Name of the Circle Name of
the Zone
SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
N 62 51 50 44 153 146 255 249 207 299 504 1010
Incandescent bulbs 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2
N 146 150 136 134 166 90 173 158 566 256 331 1153
Tube lights 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2
N 148 154 146 140 298 328 304 291 588 626 595 1809
CFL 4 5 5 5 4 4 3 3 5 4 3 4

w Timings of electricity usage: 90 percent of the respondents were using electricity


mostly during the period 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. indicating peak hours in a day.
w Back-up power supply: 47 percent of the respondents used some form of back-up
power supply such as emergency lamps, inverter/UPS, generator or stabilizer.
Incidence of their usage was found to be more in BMAZ.
w Average spending on back-up power: Around Rs. 260 has been spent on
maintenance of stabilizers – highest in Bangalore (Rural) (Rs. 469) and though
average usage of inverter is less, a good amount has been spent on maintenance,
especially in Bangalore (Rural) (Rs. 1,155).

Table 2.4: Average yearly maintenance for coping mechanisms (Rs.)


Name of the Circle Name of
the Zone
SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
N 21 23 21 22 34 30 25 20 87 64 45 196
Inverter / UPS (Rs.) 736 554 709 280 1155 126 606 292 566 673 466 578
N 30 44 12 31 134 81 60 18 117 215 78 410
Stabilizer (Rs.) 150 109 133 107 469 192 163 211 121 364 174 259
N 12 33 40 51 21 10 17 61 136 31 78 245
Emergency Lamp (Rs.) 131 312 232 220 227 89 181 113 238 183 128 196

27
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Type of Connection and the Experience of Getting One


Feedback on the type of connection that BESCOM users have, indicated that –
w More than 99 percent of the respondents had energy meters in their houses.
w Among respondents who had subscribed for a new connection in the last three
years, 82 percent had digital meters, 14 percent had conventional meters and the
rest had smart meters in their homes.
Chart 2.1 – Type of energy meters (%)

w More than 97 percent respondents used paid connections, while the rest subscribed
to Bhagyajothi/Kutirajyothi schemes.
w Sharp contrasts were found in urban and rural areas regarding the type of connection.
In BMAZ, majority of the connections (69 percent) were 3–phase. In BRAZ and
CTAZ, majority of the users had single phase connections (88 percent and 89
percent, respectively).
w Electricity connections taken by 88 percent of respondents were less than three
years old, while remaining connections were older than three years.
Experiences of users who applied for electricity connection (excluding Bhagyajyothi
beneficiaries (51) and tenants (71)), reflect the following:
w Approach to BESCOM: Only 24 percent of the respondents visited BESCOM
directly (Table 2.5) to get a new connection (highest in Tumkur Circle followed by
Davangere and South). Interestingly, 38 percent of the respondents employed private
electricians, while 25 percent approached middlemen/agents to get their electricity
connections.
w Reason for employing intermediary: Among users who employed private electricians

28
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Table 2.5: Approach to BESCOM to get a


connection across Circles and Zones (%)
Name of the Circle Name of
the Zone

SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
N 158 160 160 156 311 329 291 313 634 640 604 1878
Directly 32 8 14 21 20 16 36 34 18 18 35 24
Through middle-
man / agent 68 93 86 79 80 84 64 66 82 82 65 76

and middlemen/agents to get an electricity connection, 58 percent of them employed


an intermediary to ensure a timely connection, while 21 percent cited lack of
understanding of processes and requirements as the reason. Interestingly, 15 percent
of them said everybody gets connections through intermediaries only. Two percent
of them followed this path to seek help because of shortcomings in legal and
documentation requirements.
w Amount paid to get the connection: It was found that users in BMAZ paid more
than twice the amount paid by users in BRAZ and CTAZ to get the new electricity
connection. The average amount paid by users in BMAZ was Rs. 9,076, while users
in BRAZ and CTAZ paid Rs. 3,070 and Rs. 2,971 respectively. On the whole, the
total average amount paid by users in all three regions was Rs. 4,336.
w Receipt for the amount paid: 70 percent of the respondents received receipts for
the full amount they paid to get the connection, while 11 percent of the users
received receipts for only partial amounts. Surprisingly, more than 20 percent of

Chart 2.2 Receipt received for amount paid (%)

Not received any


receipt at all, 20

Yes, but for partial


Yes, for full
amount only, 11
amount, 70

29
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

the respondents did not receive any receipt at all.


w Reason for paying extra amount: Among those respondents who received receipts
for the partial amount paid and those who did not receive any receipt, 84 percent
said they paid the extra amount to get the connection soon and 5 percent of them
mentioned that they lacked necessary documents to get the connection. Eleven
(11) percent felt that without paying that extra amount, it would have been
impossible to get the connection.
Of the users who paid extra amount to get the connection, 53 percent paid this
money directly, while 47 percent of them employed intermediaries for this work.
Only 20 percent of the users who paid extra amounts said that the extra money was
demanded from them. It is regrettable that 80 percent of them paid this extra
amount voluntarily.
After paying this extra amount, nearly 95 percent of users said their work got
completed.
w Time taken for completion of work: After
submitting applications, sanction was given on In 43 percent cases, sanction
the same day in seven percent cases, while for 50 was given after a week of
percent cases it took a week to obtain the submitting application for the
new electricity connection
sanction. In 43 percent cases, sanction was given
after a week of submitting the application, clearly
indicating the need for improving the organizational efficiency of BESCOM. The
responsiveness of BESCOM was found to be better in BMAZ, where 13 percent of
the applications were sanctioned on the same day, compared to BRAZ (five percent)
and CTAZ (two percent).
w Number of visits made to BESCOM: To get the sanction, 13 percent of respondents
made one visit, 22 percent respondents made two
Almost half the number of
visits, while nearly 20 percent made three or more
users (46 percent) got their
visits to the BESCOM office. Nearly 46 percent connections without making
of the respondents did not visit the office to get any visit to BESCOM office
the sanction.
w Amount paid to BESCOM staff during the installation: In around 5 percent cases,
amounts were paid to BESCOM staff during the time of installation. The average
amount paid in CTAZ (Rs. 1,041) was more than twice the amounts paid in BMAZ
(Rs. 574) and BRAZ (Rs. 458).
Only in 12 percent cases, receipts were issued to respondents for the full amount
they paid during the time of installation. In nearly 7 percent cases, receipts were
issued against partial amounts, while more than 81 percent of the respondents did
not receive any receipt at all.

30
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

w Ease of getting the connection: Nearly 60 percent of the respondents felt that it is
easy to get a new electricity connection – this was reported the most in South (82
percent), East (77 percent) and North (73 percent) Circles. The lowest was in
Tumkur (38 percent) Circle, while nearly 40
percent felt otherwise. This reflects the need to Only 60 percent users feel that it
make the entire process of getting electricity is easy to get a new electricity
connection
connection more user-friendly. More than 55
percent of the respondents in CTAZ found it
difficult to get the connection, thereby calling for timely action to improve
BESCOM services in this Zone.
Chart 2.3: Ease of getting connection across Circles & Zones (%)

Quality of Electricity Supply and Payments


Interesting variations were observed across Zones and Circles regarding quality of power
supplied and the payment process that was followed, the findings for which are as
follows:
w Power cuts: Almost 99 percent of the respondents in CTAZ and 93 percent in
BRAZ face power cuts compared to 67 percent in BMAZ. Table 2.6 presents data
related to type of power cuts by different Zones and Circles.
w Magnitude of power cuts: The data about the average number of hours of power
cut in a day (during last three months) clearly indicate that regions outside Bangalore
city suffer more hours of power cut, especially rural areas. Average hours of power
cut in a day is three hours in BMAZ, which is
Residents of Bangalore Rural
much less compared to power cuts in BRAZ (six face power cuts as high as 18
hours) and CTAZ (seven hours). Shockingly, in hours a day
all three Zones, longest power cuts are as high as

31
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

15 hours a day. After considering the data from all three Zones, average hours of
power cut was found to be six hours a day. Residents of Karnataka, which is one of
progressive states in India, definitely face severe shortage of power.

Table 2.6: Power cuts across Circles and Zones (%)

Name of the Circle Name of


the Zone

SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
N 160 160 160 160 316 336 323 334 640 652 657 1949
Scheduled
power cuts 38 37 57 37 49 52 29 14 42 51 22 38
Unscheduled
power cuts 23 38 12 19 40 18 35 58 23 29 47 33
Both 4 1 0 3 5 21 36 26 2 14 31 16
No power cuts 38 37 57 37 49 52 29 14 42 51 22 38
Average duration
of power cuts
in a day (hrs.) 3 3 2 2 5 8 7 7 3 6 7 6

w Notification on power cuts from BESCOM:


Only two percent of the users said they always 74 percent users have not seen
any notification on power cuts
see notifications regarding power cuts from from BESCOM
BESCOM. Twenty-four (24) percent said they
see such notifications sometimes, while 74 percent said that they had never seen
any such notification. It is clear that dissemination of information regarding power
cuts from BESCOM, needs to improve drastically.
w Voltage fluctuations (in last six months): Two percent of the respondents said they
always face voltage fluctuations, while 57 percent face them sometimes; 40 percent
of the users said they did not face any voltage fluctuation. More than 70 percent of
the respondents in CTAZ said they faced voltage fluctuations in the last six months,
indicating that they suffer more in terms of both 40 percent of users never faced
magnitude and quality of electricity supply, any voltage fluctuations
compared to the other two Zones.
w Sagging wires from poles in the locality: More than 15 percent of the users noticed
sagging wires from the pole in their locality. Among them, nearly three percent
mentioned that they had witnessed deaths due to sagging/unsafe wires in their
locality.

32
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Availability of BESCOM Staff, Meter Reading and Billing


w Availability of BESCOM staff in the locality: Only 15 percent respondents said
that staff members of BESCOM live in their locality, while another 15 percent said
BESCOM staff live in other nearby villages/localities. About 45 percent of the
respondents said no employee of BESCOM lived nearby.
Nearly 47 percent of the respondents said that BESCOM staff can be easily contacted
during times of emergency, but this was only 30 percent in the case of BMAZ. It
appears that it is easier to contact BESCOM staff in the rural areas as compared to
urban areas, in case of an emergency.
w Measures against power theft: Only two percent of the users said officers from
BESCOM vigilance department visited their
58 percent of the respondents
houses to check on power theft. They mentioned said no one visited their houses
that, instead, it was the BESCOM staff who did to check power theft
this additionally while visiting their houses (12
percent). Nearly 58 percent of the respondents said no one visited their houses to
check or enquire about power theft.
w Meter reading: More than 98 percent of the users said that their electricity meters
were read on a monthly basis. Nearly 96 percent of the users said the meter reader/
Gram Vidyut Pratinidhi (GVP) visits their house every month to record energy
consumption.
w Billing: Almost all users said they regularly receive electricity bills, every month.
More than 92 percent users said that the bills they received were accurate.
The average amount of bill paid by all users was Rs. 352 per month. Users in
BMAZ paid more than twice (Rs. 631) compared to users in BRAZ (Rs. 261) and
CTAZ (Rs. 170). Coincidentally, users in BMAZ face less power cuts and they
invest more on electrical appliances compared to the other two Zones.
Nearly 42 percent of the users felt that current power tariffs are high, while 56
percent felt power tariffs were just right.
Majority of users in all the Circles of BMAZ reported paying their electricity bills at
the BESCOM cash counters, but in the other two Zones, half of them pay their
bills to the meter reader.
w Timings of payment of bill: More than 96 percent of the users said timings of
payment of electricity bills are convenient.
Among respondents who were not finding More than 96 percent of the users
current timings convenient, more than 71 said timings of payment of
percent suggested the bill payment counters be electricity bills are convenient.
opened round the clock.

33
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Table 2.7: Mode of payment of electricity bills across Circles and Zones (%)
Name of the Circle Name of
the Zone
SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
Meter reader 2 1 0 3 42 63 53 38 1 53 45 33
BESCOM cash
counter 48 77 73 61 22 20 20 10 64 21 15 33
Grama Vidyut
Prathinidhi 0 0 0 0 16 9 9 40 0 12 25 12
Bangalore/
Tumkur One
centres 24 14 18 27 3 0 0 0 21 1 0 7
BESCOM
consumer Billing
Centre 6 3 3 6 6 2 5 10 4 4 8 5
Any time payment
counters(BESCOM
Kiosks) 13 1 6 1 12 5 0 0 5 8 0 5

Problem Incidence, Responsiveness and Resolution


Experience of users who faced problems regarding electricity is as follows:
w Problems faced by users in last one year: Users of BMAZ faced less problems in
electricity supply, compared to the other two Zones. Nearly 42 percent
respondents in BRAZ and 36 percent
Kolar (52 percent), Tumkur (42
respondents in CTAZ faced problems percent), Bangalore Rural &
regarding electricity supply, compared to 15 Davangere (31 percent) Circles
percent respondents in BMAZ. This suggests faced more problems than those
users in rural area suffer more from such which were located in the BMAZ
problems compared to their urban Zone
counterparts.
Table 2.8 depicts the various problems by region and percentage of users reporting
these problems.
w Less than half (48 percent) the number of
Only 48 percent respondents
respondents who faced problems related to
who faced problems related to
electricity supply, contacted BESCOM. Their electricity supply contacted
proportion was higher in BMAZ (67 percent) BESCOM
compared to BRAZ (43 percent) and CTAZ
(47 percent).
w Overall, on an average, seven contacts were made by each complainant to resolve

34
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

the problem (three visits in East, North and Davangere Circles; four visits in
West Circle; five visits in South and seven visits in Bangalore Rural and Kolar
Circles).
Table 2.8: Type of problems across Zones (%)
Type of Problem BMAZ BRAZ CTAZ Total
Related to line break downs 25 62 87 67
Voltage variations 31 33 40 35
Transformer failure 37 20 41 31
Related to Fuse - offs calls 23 12 40 25
Meter complaints 26 6 5 9
Bills 12 7 1 5

w Modes of contacting BESCOM: Users who contacted BESCOM to report


their problems, utilized different modes i.e., through lineman (33 percent),
through helpline (17 percent), personal visit (16 percent) and service station (10
percent).

Other means of approaching BESCOM to resolve problems…


w Other means: The respondents, who did not contact BESCOM to report
their problems, approached middlemen (19 percent), local/village people
(15 percent), private electricians (6 percent) to resolve the problem.
w Reasons for not contacting BESCOM to report the problem: (Considering
only those users who faced problems but did not contact BESCOM) Nearly
22 percent respondents were not aware of complaint lodging procedure,
while 13 percent were not aware to whom and where to complain. 21
percent respondents did not complain because their local community
resolves the problem and more than 13 percent think that it is no use even
if the complaint is lodged. Another 12 percent users felt solving through
intermediary is easier than to approach BESCOM.

More than half (56 percent) the number of users who contacted BESCOM to
report their problems contacted the Assistant Engineer (AE/Junior Engineer
(JE), while nearly 35 percent reported to the lineman. Nearly 15 percent of the
users approached the overseer/meter reader/operator and 11 percent contacted
the Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE).
w Place of lodging complaint: More than half of those users who faced a problem,
lodged their complaint at the O&M office (51 percent), with others at the Sub-
division office (26 percent) and customer service centre (12 percent).

35
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

w Efficiency of staff: Only eight percent of the users said the efficiency of staff was
excellent, while 58 percent said it was good. Twenty-eight (28) percent of users
rated the efficiency of staff as average while seven percent users said it was poor.

Chart 2.4 : Efficiency of BESCOM staff (%)

Poor, 7
Excellent, 8

Average, 28

Good, 57

w Only 36 percent of the users received an acknowledgment for the complaint


they registered and, on an average, users had to contact BESCOM two times
for follow-up.
w Nearly 71 percent of the respondents said that their problems were solved after
contacting BESCOM. Among them, 46
percent said their problem was solved the 71 percent respondents said that
their problems were resolved
same day, 39 percent said it was solved the after contacting BESCOM
next day while 15 percent said it took more
than two days to find a solution.
w Among those users whose problems were not solved after contacting BESCOM,
more than one-fifth (23 percent) reported contacting no one to follow up but
used middlemen (23 percent), higher officials of BESCOM (16 percent), and
Customer Care Centres (27 percent) for grievance redress.
w In terms of solving problems, 13 percent of the users said their problem was
resolved the same day; 21 percent said it was resolved the next day; 34 percent
said it took 2 days to be resolved, while 32 percent said their problem was not
resolved at all.
w Nearly 98 percent of the users said they did not pay any extra money in the past
one year to BESCOM staff for dealing with any specific problem. Only 13 users
reported paying extra amounts though the average amount paid is on the higher
side (Rs. 994).

36
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Satisfaction
The following findings reflect user satisfaction on various parameters from those users
who personally visited the BESCOM office:
w Time taken to attend: 44 percent of the users were completely satisfied; 32
percent were partly satisfied and 24 percent were dissatisfied. Among the three
Zones, BRAZ reported the highest percentage of users who were completely
satisfied (57 percent), while CTAZ had the highest proportion of dissatisfied
users (41 percent).
w Time taken to solve problem: 53 percent of the users were completely satisfied;
24 percent were partly satisfied and 23 percent expressed their dissatisfaction.
Among the three Zones, the number of users who were completely satisfied is
highest in CTAZ (62 percent) and the highest proportion of those who were
dissatisfied is in BMAZ (31 percent).
w Helpfulness of staff: 61 percent of the users were completely satisfied; 29 percent
were partly satisfied and 10 percent were dissatisfied. Among the three Zones,
the proportion of users who were completely satisfied is highest in BRAZ (65
percent) and the number of users who were dissatisfied is highest in BMAZ (19
percent).
w Efficiency with which problem was dealt with: 53 percent of the users were
completely satisfied, 31 percent were partly satisfied and 16 percent were
dissatisfied. Interestingly, among the three Zones, the proportion of users who
were completely satisfied as well as dissatisfied were highest in BRAZ (57 percent
and 24 percent, respectively).
w Ability of the staff in providing the information users required: 39 percent of

Chart 2.5 : Satisfaction with different aspects of responsiveness of staff (%)

10
10 23 10 16
24 30
35 29 31 35
32 24
31

55 44 53 61 53 39 55

37
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

the users were completely satisfied, 31 percent were partly satisfied and 30 percent
were dissatisfied. Among the three Zones, the proportion of users who were
completely satisfied is highest in BRAZ (51 percent) and the proportion of users
who were dissatisfied is highest in CTAZ (44 percent).
w Overall behaviour of staff with users: 55 percent of the users were completely
satisfied, 35 percent were partly satisfied and 10 percent were dissatisfied. Among
the three Zones, the proportion of users who were completely satisfied is highest
in CTAZ (62 percent) and the proportion of users who were dissatisfied is highest
in BMAZ (19 percent).
w Overall scenario of problem incidence, lodging complaint and problem
resolution: Of the 31 percent of users who had problems with BESCOM’s
services, only 48 percent contacted the agency to lodge a complaint and, of
them, 71 percent got their problems solved. Problem incidences were more in
the Kolar (52 percent), Tumkur (42 percent) and Davangere (315) Circles and
problem resolution was highest in the Davangere (90 percent), South (79
percent), and Bangalore Rural (77 percent) Circles.

Chart 2.6 : Problem Incidence & Problem Resolution across Circles and Zones

Feedback on overall aspects of service delivery canvassed among all the users, revealed
the following:
w Regularity of power supply: 48 percent of the users were completely satisfied,
29 percent were partly satisfied and 24 percent were dissatisfied. Among the
three Zones, the proportion of users who were completely satisfied is highest in
BMAZ (75 percent) and the proportion of users who were dissatisfied is highest
in CTAZ (40 percent).
w Timings of power cuts: 36 percent of the users were completely satisfied, 27
percent were partly satisfied and 36 percent were dissatisfied. Among the three
Zones, the proportion of users who were completely satisfied is highest in BMAZ

38
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

(60 percent) and the proportion of users who are dissatisfied is highest in CTAZ
(54 percent).
w Quality of power supply (without fluctuations): 48 percent of the users were
completely satisfied, 30 percent were partly satisfied and 22 percent were
dissatisfied. Among the three Zones, the proportion of users who were completely
satisfied is highest in BMAZ (66 percent) and the proportion of users who were
dissatisfied is highest in CTAZ (36 percent).

Table 2.9: Satisfaction with quality of service across Circles and Zones (%)

Name of the Circle Name of


the Zone
SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
Regularity of power supply
Completely satisfied 68 78 78 77 54 29 24 33 75 41 28 48
Partly satisfied 29 18 20 18 27 41 40 24 21 34 32 29
Dissatisfied 3 4 3 6 19 30 36 44 4 25 40 23
Timings of power cuts
Completely satisfied 49 60 66 65 43 20 19 20 60 31 20 36
Partly satisfied 40 21 20 22 25 35 35 18 26 30 26 27
Dissatisfied 11 19 14 13 33 45 46 62 14 39 54 36
Quality of power supply (without fluctuations)
Completely satisfied 59 71 64 69 58 35 36 33 66 46 35 48
Partly satisfied 34 21 28 19 21 48 37 22 25 35 29 30
Dissatisfied 8 8 9 12 21 17 27 46 9 19 36 22
Considering all aspects of the services provided by BESCOM
Completely satisfied 82 84 86 82 61 28 29 33 83 44 31 52
Partly satisfied 13 12 10 11 20 44 36 26 12 32 31 25
Dissatisfied 5 4 4 7 19 28 35 41 5 24 38 23

w Considering all aspects of the services provided by BESCOM: 52 percent of


the users were completely satisfied, 25 percent were partly satisfied and 23
percent expressed their dissatisfaction.
On the whole, Davangere Circle
Among the three Zones, the proportion of reported highest dissatisfaction
users who were completely satisfied is highest (41 percent) followed by Tumkur
in BMAZ (83 percent) and the proportion (28 percent), and Kolar (28
of users who are dissatisfied is highest in percent).
CTAZ (38 percent).

39
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Chart 2.7 : Overall satifaction across Circles and Zones (%)

Reasons for dissatisfaction and suggestions for improvement: Table 2.10 explains
reasons for dissatisfaction, requirements for complete satisfaction and suggestions for
improvement.
Table 2.10: Reasons for dissatisfaction & Suggestions for Improvements

Requirements for Reasons for Suggestions for


complete satisfaction Dissatisfaction Improvement
w Need regular power (63 w Irregular power supply w Supply 24 hours regular
percent), (64 percent)· power (39 percent)
w Reduce the unit price of w Repeated voltage w BESCOM to educate on
the power bill (12 percent) fluctuations (57 percent) use of CFL bulbs to save
w Reduce power cut (9 w Problem to children’s power (8 percent)
percent) education (22 percent) w BESCOM to check on
w No power cuts during w Behaviour/work of the power thefts (7 percent)
night for children’s study staff is not good (17 w Staff should respond/
(8 percent) percent) work properly (7 percent)
w BESCOM staff should w High tariff (11 percent) w Reduce current bill (5
work properly (8 percent) percent)
w Avoid middleman (5
percent)

w Improvement in the overall quality of the service (in the last one year): 20
percent of the users noticed improvements
On the whole, 20 percent users
and 58 percent observed no change in overall
observed improvement in quality
quality of service provided by BESCOM. of service by BESCOM
Nearly five percent of the users said that the
quality of services had deteriorated.
Table 2.11 provides information regarding the improvements observed by users.

40
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Table 2.11: Improvements observed


Improvement % of users
Less power cut 39
Regular power supply 37
BESCOM is giving good service 10
BESCOM staff collect the bill by themselves 8
Changed the meter 4
Availability of good staff 2
Behaviour of the staff is better 1

Other Forms of Support by BESCOM


An analysis of the support provided by BESCOM for its customers reveals the following:
w Awareness about BESCOM’s information booklet: Almost none of the users
of BESCOM were aware of the information booklet (Karnataka Electricity
Regulation Commission norms) brought out by BESCOM. This indicates the
need by BESCOM to take more proactive steps to increase awareness about the
booklet.
w Customer interaction meetings: Once again almost none of the users (99 percent)
of BESCOM were aware of the Customer Interaction Meetings (CIM) and about
two-thirds of those who were aware about such meetings attended them.
w Awareness about the BESCOM website (www.bescom.org): 98 percent of the
users of BESCOM were not aware about the website. Among the users who
visited BESCOM website, 50 percent found it useful to know how to get a new
connection and the remaining 50 percent used the website to know about bill
payment options. 71 percent of the users who visited the website said that it
did not provide the information they were seeking.

Chart 2.8: Advertisements regarding power savings (%)

41
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

w Power savings: More than two-thirds (68 percent) surveyed had seen BESCOM’s
recent advertisements regarding power saving methods. TV and newspapers were
two of the most important channels that spread awareness about saving power.
The following graph shows user recall of advertisements from BESCOM regarding
power saving.
w Methods used by consumers to save power: Turning off lights, fans and other
electrical gadgets (98 percent), using sunlight in day time and reducing the use
of artificial lights (89 percent), using low wattage bulbs for corridors and other
less important areas (51 percent), keeping the bulbs and tubelights clean to get
better light (45 percent), using tubelights in place of filament lights (35 percent)
and keeping the refrigerator door closed (12 percent) have been adopted by
BESCOM consumers to save power.

42
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Feedback from BESCOM Staff

The previous chapter presented findings regarding quality of services provided by


BESCOM to its users. The effectiveness of the Citizen Report Card approach lies in
providing a complete stakeholders’ study. As mentioned in the introduction, the main
objective of this study was to assess the process and quality of service provided by
BESCOM to the public and, in the process, attempt to understand the problems and
constraints faced by BESCOM personnel while discharging their duties. This chapter
analyses the information collected from BESCOM staff through interviews conducted
at various levels in selected BESCOM Sub-divisions and O&M offices across all Zones
and Circles under BESCOM’s jurisdiction in the State of Karnataka.
This chapter also provides insights into various organizational aspects of BESCOM. It
looks at the strengths and deficiencies of the organization.
Profile of BESCOM Staff
w Gender and age group: Among the BESCOM staff interviewed, 96 percent
were male. Average age of respondents was 40 years.
w Type of area: With respect to the offices visited, BMAZ comprises predominantly
of urban areas (97 percent) compared to BRAZ (36 percent) and CTAZ (27 percent).
w Designation of staff: In order to understand issues at various tiers of operation
of the organization, staff members at various levels were interviewed. Table 3.1
provides the details.
w Education: One-fourth (25 percent) of the respondents had finished SSLC standard
while 18 percent of them have completed their certificate courses in electrical
engineering from industrial trainig institutes. About 10 percent of them are
Diploma-holders and 8 percent of them are graduates in engineering.
w Experience: Almost half the numbers of staff (49 percent) interviewed have
been working in the department for the past 35 years. Most of them had the
same designation for the past four years.

43
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Table 3.1: Composition of interviewed staff


Designation % of
respondents
Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) 5
Assistant Engineer (AE)/ Junior Engineer (JE) 18
Mechanic Grade 1/ Mechanic Grade 2 16
Line Man 23
Assistant Line man 22
Overseer/Meter Reader/Operator 16

Job Aspects
Feedback regarding their work at BESCOM revealed the following:
w Access: 54 percent of the BESCOM staff had their current residence in the same
place as the BESCOM office. 73 percent respondents brought their own vehicles
to the office, seve percent used office vehicle, 12 percent came by bus and seven
percent preferred to walk. On an average, they travelled six km to reach their
offices.
w Jurisdiction: On an average, each O&M and Sub-division serves nearly half a lakh
(49,371) customers. However, there are sharp
Average number of customers
differences in terms of the customers served
served by employees of BMAZ
in Circles and Zones. On an average each sub- is more than twice than that
division addresses 83,068 consumers and O&M served by employees of the
addresses 39,305 consumers. There is also a other two Zones
huge variation among the Circles i.e., South
Circle (113,501) serves more consumers than Tumkur Circle (23,636).
Table3.2: Average number of consumers served
N Average Consumers
South 8 1,13,501
East 8 69,750
North 8 49,788
West 8 42,353
BLR (R) 16 45,531
Kolar 17 36,906
Tumkur 17 23,636

44
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

N Average Consumers
Davangere 18 54,234
Zones
BLR-Metroploitan 32 68,848
BLR-Rural 33 41,088
Chitradurga 35 39,372
BESCOM 100 49,371

w Area: Median of radius/distance of area covered in each jurisdiction was found


to be five km in BMAZ, 15 km in BRAZ and 25 km in CTAZ. This appears to
correspond with population densities of these Zones. The area under the
jurisdiction of the head of the office (Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) and
Assistant Engineer (AE)) had the highest number of employees.
w Nature of work: It was found that all the employees had more than one kind of
work. Maintenance of lines (75 percent), addressing consumer grievances (56
percent), revenue collection (51 percent), action on prevention of theft (43
percent), receiving applications from
consumers (23 percent), preparing estimates Multi-tasking is a general
feature among the staff at all
and reading meters, issuing bills (22 percent) levels
were the major job responsibilities served by
BESCOM employees.
w Hours of duty: 49 percent of the employees reportedly work for 8 to 12 hours
a day; 29 percent work for 13 to 16 hours a day and nearly 23 percent employees
work for more than 16 hours a day (see Table
3.1). In Tumkur Circle almost half the number Employees of BESCOM have
of employees (47 percent) are working 24X7; long working hours
this was followed by South Circle (29 percent)
and Davangere (26 percent).
Among employees who worked for more than 16 hours in a day, the proportion
was higher among Assistant Executive Engineers (43 percent) and Assistant
Engineer/Junior Engineer (31 percent).
Respondents said the nature of work is like that because electricity is an essential
service and hence they have to be available for work most of the day. Chart 3.1
shows the average hours of work put in by employees.
w Weekly holidays: 47 percent respondents said they get their weekly holiday
regularly, while 40 percent of them got it only sometimes. The remaining 12
percent employees said they never get their weekly holidays.

45
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Chart 3.1: Average hours of work in a day (%)

Nearly 63 percent respondents took leave only when required; 17 percent took
monthly leave; nearly 20 percent took leave in six months. Nearly three percent
of the respondents said they were never allowed to take leave. However, 85
percent of BESCOM employees received monetary compensation for
surrendering leave (EL). The remaining 15 percent did not receive any such
compensation.
w Office strength: Only 45 percent of the respondents said they were able to
discharge their duties with the current office strength.
Various reasons were cited for not being able to discharge BESCOM suffers
from shortage of
their duties with the current office strength (given in more
staff
detail later in the chapter).

Table3.3: Reasons for not effectively discharging duties


(multiple responses)
Reasons % of
respondents
Many of the posts are vacant 77.7
Sanctioned strength insufficient 64.0
Staff with low competency 15.5
Most of the staff are physically not fit 8.8

When asked about actions that need to be taken to improve their work, 67 percent
said they needed more staff; 25 percent said they needed supply of good quality
materials; nine percent asked for vehicle facilities; four percent asked for additional/
good transformers; four percent called for better maintenance of lines and poles;
four percent said staff should work sincerely; more than three percent said they
needed supportive officers and two percent called for reducing their work load.

46
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

w Feedback on private contractors: Regarding installation by private contractors,


more than one-third (39 percent) of the respondents said that private contractors
use and procure poor quality materials; 35 percent said private contractors were
supportive; 28 percent said there was a need for strict monitoring of contractors’
work; 23 percent said proper installation procedures were not followed by private
contractors and 14 percent said private contractors charged high fees from
consumers for installation.
w Safety tools: Almost all (97 percent) the respondents said they received safety
tools from BESCOM. Among them, the proportion of employees receiving
various safety tools is depicted in Table 3.4.
w In each office, only 44 percent of the respondents said that safety tools have been
provided to all employees in their office. Among them, 89 percent overseers/
meter readers /operators, eight (8) percent mechanics (Grade 1/Grade 2) and 10
percent linemen/assistant linemen/junior linemen did not receive any safety tools.
Table3.4: Details of safety tools
received by BESCOM staff
Safety tool % of
respondents
Safety Belt 93
Helmet 94
Rain Coat 90
Hand Gloves 92
Torch 90
Jacket 38
Earthing rod 88
Insulated ladder 27

While 65 percent of the employees said safety tools were of good quality, the
rest said the quality was average. Among the employees who found the material
of average/poor quality, 91 percent said they were able to convey their message
to higher officers. Among the employees who did not
convey their message, 90 percent said that it was of no High proportion of
staff find quality of
use even if the message was conveyed to higher officers hand gloves wanting
and the remaining 10 percent did not know whom to
contact about poor quality of materials.
When they were asked to give suggestions regarding the items given to them, 78
percent of them asked for supply of good quality items.

47
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

w Walkie-talkies: Nearly 61 percent of the respondents received walkie-talkies.


Among them, the proportion was higher among Assistant Executive Engineers
(97 percent) and Assistant Engineers/ Junior Engineers (92 percent). Nearly 74
percent of the employees who received walkie-talkies received training in how to
use it.
Applications of walkie-talkie that were noted
included – helping to know whether the staff 80 percent employees who
received Walkie-talkie faced
is on duty or not (44 percent), to
problems with them due to lack
communicate with other staff (40 percent) and of proper training
to receive complaints (9 percent). However
there were problems with the walkie-talkies – very disturbing and confusing (50
percent) and inconvenient while climbing the poles (22 percent). Some
alternatives that were suggested included providing corporate SIM (71 percent)
and providing monthly currency (recharge) for personal mobile phones (54
percent).
w Materials: Nearly 82 percent of the respondents said that all required materials
were available at their Sub-division/ O &M
offices; 92 percent reported receiving materials After putting in a request for
required materials, in 43 percent
from the Division Store while six percent of the cases it took more than a
received materials from the Central Store. week to receive them
After making a request for required materials,
11 percent of the respondents received materials within a day; 21 percent in two
to three days, while 67 percent of them received materials in after four days.
More than two-fifths (44 percent) of the respondents said that all the supplied
materials were of good quality, while 51 percent said only some materials were
of good quality.
Around 85 percent of the respondents said they were able to convey their message
to higher officers regarding the poor/average quality of the materials supplied.
Among respondents who did not convey such a message, 86 percent said it
would be of no use even if the message is conveyed and the remaining 14 percent
did not know whom to contact.
Regarding allowances entitled to BESCOM employees, experiences recorded are as
follows:
w Vehicle allowance: 56 percent of the respondents were regularly getting vehicle
allowance every month while the rest were not getting any vehicle allowance.
On an average, vehicle allowance received was Rs. 500 a month.
However, a majority (88 percent) of the respondents said it was not sufficient to

48
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

discharge their duties for the whole month. An additional amount of Rs. 1,000
as vehicle allowance were needed, according to the respondents.
w Travel allowance: 55 percent of the respondents were regularly getting travel
allowance every month, while the rest were not getting any.
On an average, travel allowance received was Rs. 650 per month.
More than 86 percent of the respondents said their travel allowance was not
sufficient to discharge their duties for the whole month. Among the employees,
67 percent Assistant Executive Engineers found the travel allowance sufficient.
But the majority of other employees sought additional travel allowance. Median
of additional amount needed by employees was found to be Rs. 1,500.
w Compliance to BESCOM guidelines: With the support they were getting from
BESCOM, 69 percent of the respondents said they were able to comply with
BESCOM guidelines regarding consumer grievance redress. The remaining 31
percent cited various reasons such as staff shortage (90 percent), wide area to be
covered (45 percent), difficulty in accessing areas (30 percent), lack of proper
vehicle facilities (30 percent) and required materials not being readily available
(30 percent) as the main reasons for not being able to comply with BESCOM
guidelines regarding consumer grievance redress.

Support from Department and Community


Questions related to support received from the department and the community elicited
the following responses.
Training: Apart from the induction training programme that the employees underwent
at the time of joining the department, 91 percent of them underwent other training
programmes as well in the last three years.
w Around 10 percent of them underwent one more training programme, 86 percent
underwent two to five training programmes and about four percent of them
underwent more than five training programmes.
Median of duration of each training programme was three days.
w Almost all (98 percent) were satisfied with the various training programmes and
three-fourths of them felt that all training programmes attended were very useful
for them.
w Employees who did not attend any training programme cited various reasons
for it – 41 percent of them said they were not selected by their senior officers,
35 percent said they were interested, but did not get an opportunity and 24
percent said they were not allowed to because of insufficient office strength.

49
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

w Nearly 35 percent of the respondents attended BESCOM programmes regarding


power saving. The proportion of employees who attended this programme was
higher among Assistant Executive Engineers (67 percent) and Assistant Engineers/
Junior Engineers (60 percent). Zone-wise, the proportion was highest in BMAZ
(65 percent) and lowest in CTAZ (18 percent).
w Among the employees who attended BESCOM programmes regarding power
saving, 92 percent of them instructed/trained their staff regarding power saving.
99 percent of such respondents said they created awareness among consumers
regarding saving of electricity.
Peak load: Respondents offered several suggestions to reduce peak load in peak hours.
Table 3.5 reflects their suggestions.
Table 3.5: Suggestions to reduce peak load in peak hours
(multiple responses received)
Suggestions Percent of
respondents
Use CFL or low voltage bulbs 34
Don’t use heavy power consuming equipments 24
Use less power during peak hours 15
Awareness among users about power saving 12
Provide additional TC 11
Use solar energy 11
Use power only when required 9
Recognition: Only one-third (33 percent) of the respondents were appreciated for
their work. Among the BESCOM staff who received appreciation, 71 percent of them
were praised by senior officers; 23 percent received certificate(s); 14 percent received
public acknowledgement for their work; nine percent
received medals; seven percent received cash rewards; 67 percent of respondents did
not receive any appreciation
five percent received ‘Good Work’ entry in service
for their work
register and four percent received appreciation
through e-mail.
w The proportion of employees who received recognition was higher among
Assistant Executive Engineers (53 percent) and Assistant Engineers/Junior
Engineers (43 percent). This reflects the need to recognize good work done by
employees other than heads of offices.
w Nearly 85 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the current
mechanism of recognizing good work. They also offered suggestions to improve

50
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

the current mechanism of appreciation – 33 percent of them called for issuing


certificates; 31 percent called for cash rewards; 21 percent advised for appreciation
from higher officers; 13 percent asked for better support/advice from higher
officers; nine percent preferred better recognition; 3.2 percent asked for medals
and five percent advised for promotions and increments to recognize good work.
w Only 5 percent of respondents said they faced disciplinary action from the
department. Their proportion was highest among Assistant Executive Engineers
(17 percent). Among employees who faced disciplinary action , about 81 percent
of them received warnings; 21 percent received show cause notice; nine percent
lost increment and six percent faced suspensions. Regarding mechanism of
disciplinary action within the department, 12 percent of the respondents said it
was biased, 27 percent said it was unbiased and the remaining 61 percent did
not comment.
w Around seven percent of the respondents felt that postings of BESCOM staff
within the department are biased. Eighteen (18) percent of them said this can
be avoided by avoiding political interference/reference; 23 percent called for
appointing educated/eligible/skilled personnel; 18 percent believed there caste
factors should not be briught into play in this process; 12 percent felt that
transparency in selection process was important, and six percent advised online
recruitment.
w Support from higher officers: 76 percent of
78 percent employees are
the respondents said they were getting
getting excellent/good support
necessary support from their reporting/higher from their higher officers
officers. They were asked to rate the support
they were receiving from their superiors. Chart 3.2 provides the relevant
information.

Chart 3.2: Proportion of respondents rating excellent/good support from officers (%)

51
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Information regarding BESCOM’s role in their personal lives revealed the following:
w Housing loan: 15 percent of the respondents said they were provided housing
loans by BESCOM; 68 percent did not receive any such loans and 17 percent
said they were not entitled. Among employees who were provided housing
loans by BESCOM, 84 percent were completely satisfied, 12 percent were partly
satisfied and four percent were dissatisfied.
w Education loan: 11 percent of the respondents said they were provided education
loans by BESCOM; 71 percent did not receive any such loans and 18 percent
said they were not entitled to education loans. Among employees who were
provided education loans, 82 percent were completely satisfied, 10 percent were
partly satisfied and seven percent were dissatisfied.
w Health insurance cover: 18 percent of the respondents said they were provided
health insurance cover by BESCOM; 65 percent did not receive any such cover
and 17 percent said they were not entitled. Among employees who were provided
health insurance cover, 76 percent were completely satisfied, 19 percent were
partly satisfied and five percent were dissatisfied.
w 42 percent of the respondents said that department supported them in times of
family needs/crises. In 90 percent of the cases,
Majority of the staff expect
it was in the form of financial help/ financial support from Bescom
compensation; for nine percent it was in the during times of family need/
form of counselling and for five percent, health crisis
facilities were provided by the department.
w Encouragement: Only 10 percent of the respondents said they were given
opportunities in the department to come up with new or innovative ideas to
act upon. These included Assistant Executive Engineers (20 percent) and Assistant
Engineers /Junior Engineers (19 percent). This probably reflects that heads of
the offices are getting more encouragement from the department compared to
their subordinates.
Interference from outside: More than one-third (35 percent) of the respondents said
they had come across people of influence interfering/
involving themselves in work. Among Assistant People of influence were badly
Executive Engineers, 86 percent came across people affecting (86 percent) regular
work of staff of Bescom
around politicians; 76 percent experienced local
politicians interfering in work; 19 percent
experienced the same from caste/community leaders. In eight percent of the cases the
interfering persons comprised officials from other departments; in seven percent of
the cases officials from the same department and in six percent of the cases, from
media (multiple responses taken). Among employees who had come across people of

52
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

influence interfering/involving themselves in work, the proportion was high among


Assistant Executive Engineers (60 percent).
Majority (83 percent) of the respondents felt that of such interference is often a hindrance;
however, 10 percent of them felt that it was sometimes constructive.
w Working with Citizens: Only 24 percent of the respondents said their office
was working with citizens – the highest in BMAZ (54 percent) followed by BRAZ
(13 percent) and CTAZ (8 percent).
Feedback on support in the form of funds from BESCOM indicated the following:
w Only 26 percent of the respondents were aware of funds received by their office
for miscellaneous expenses. Most preferred use of these funds was found for
office maintenance, to buy stationery, other required materials and for
contingencies.
w Less than half (43 percent) the number of respondents said they needed
infrastructure facilities/funds that will help them perform better. Most preferred
this to be through financial support, purchase of quality materials, furniture,
vehicles, adding buildings/extra rooms, toilets, and providing for drinking water
facilities.
w A little above one-fourth (26 percent) of the staff were aware of different funds
received by the office and the purpose of these funds were to maintain office (79
percent), to buy stationery (62 percent), and to buy materials required (58
percent).
Information collected from the office in-charge or the AEE/AE/JE on other funds
provided the following findings:
w Imprest amount: Less than half (47 percent) the number of respondents replied
that an imprest amount has been allocated to their office. Their proportion was
highest in CTAZ (66 percent) and lowest in BMAZ (38 percent); 96 percent of these
respondents said they were receiving imprest amounts regularly. On an average
the imprest amount received was found to be Rs. 5,000.
w However, 45 percent of the respondents said the allocated imprest amount was
not sufficient. The additional imprest amount which the respondents thought
would be sufficient was found to be Rs. 1,000.
w Discretionary funds: Nearly 93 percent of the respondents replied that
discretionary funds have been allocated to their office and 91 percent of these
respondents said they were receiving discretionary fund regularly.
w Quarterly maintenance fund: Only 11 percent of the respondents replied that
quarterly maintenance fund has been allocated to their office (allocation per

53
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

quarter being Rs. 1,00,000 in urban areas and Rs. 20,000 in rural areas). 91
percent of these respondents said they had received quarterly maintenance fund.

Application Process Followed by BESCOM


w During the process time of getting a new connection consumers can approach
the office directly, according to 72 percent of the respondents, while 68 percent
also said that consumers may employ contractors.
w The connection issuing authority (AEE/AE/JE) said that getting a new connection
required documents which included filled-in application form (91 percent),
sanctioned plan/tax paid receipt/NOC copy (94 percent), completion report-
cum-test report (73 percent) and wiring diagram (67 percent).
w Chart 3.3 presents the time taken to approve sanction after submitting the
application.
Chart 3.3: Approval of sanction after submission of application (%)

w The major problems faced by heads of the offices while approving new electricity
connections were non-availability of required documents (33 percent), NOC (17
percent), no readily availed lines in the location (17 percent), road-cutting and
lack of materials (8 percent).
w Simplifying the forms, lesser documentation process, consumer awareness
campaigns regarding the new connection process and making the user directly
interact with BESCOM were suggestions given by the authorities to improve
the process of applying for electricity connection.
w On registering a complaint at the BESCOM office, 86 percent of the
respondents said they recorded this in a complaint register, 63 percent said they
gave an oral complaint and 10 percent said they advised the user to go to the
office of the relevant jurisdiction. While 27 percent said they gave
acknowledgements to the complainants, 34 percent said they take only contact

54
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

details of the complainants and 45 percent said they do not issue any
acknowledgement for the complaint received. The proportion of respondents
not issuing any acknowledgement to the complainant was least in BMAZ (25
percent) compared to BRAZ (60 percent) and CTAZ (51 percent).
Chart 3.4: Proportion of respondents issuing acknowledgement to complainants

w Issues faced during process of lodging a complaint included consumers not


being able to explain their problems (39 percent), quarrelling (16 percent), creating
high pressure on the staff (15 percent) and rude behaviour (15 percent).

Problem Incidence, Resolution and Responsiveness


w Nearly 96 percent of the respondents said they did not face any problems while
performing their duty in the last one year. Among the employees who faced
problems, various areas were identified. Incidences of problems were higher
among Assistant Executive Engineers.
w Of those who had a problem, 39 percent said they were
Poor grievance
not able to get the problem solved. Nearly 70 percent mechanism for
said lack of grievance redress system in the department staff within the
was the reason for not being able to solve the problem. department
Ten (10) percent of them did not know whom to contact
and 50 percent said senior officers did not take any action (multiple responses
taken).
When the respondents faced problems in the course of fulfilling their duty, 60
percent approached their immediate superior officers, 10 percent approached officers
at the Division level, 10 percent approached the union office and 20 percent did
not approach anyone.
Eighty-six (86) percent of the respondents who approached higher authorities to
report their problems said that behaviour of the authorities during their interaction
was polite and 14 percent said authorities did not listen to their problems at all.

55
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Corruption
In terms of external corruption, the feedback is as follows:
w As a personal viewpoint regarding corruption, 89 percent of the respondents
said that corruption should be eliminated; seven percent felt that corruption is
not a major problem and that it was human nature, while five percent thought
corruption cannot be avoided.
w Only 14 percent of the respondents agreed that there were practices involving
taking of money or personal favours from consumers/the public in their
department. Around 27 percent of the Assistant Executive Engineers agreed
that such practices existed in their department.
w Nearly 72 percent of the respondents said that such practices exist in their
department because of personal greed; 15 percent thought
corrupt practices were practised only by middleman/ Personal greed is
contractors; 12 percent said they were forced by higher officers a major cause for
to collect bribe; 11 percent said corrupt practices existed corruption
to resolve the problem they faced; nine percent said such
practices existed to meet the expenses of the office.
w However, 74 percent of the respondents also said corruption can be avoided.
Strict action against corrupt employees (64 percent), making efforts for consumers
to interact easily with the department (16 percent) and avoiding middlemen (12
percent) were the suggestions given for ending corruption in the department.
w Regarding internal corruption, 99.7 percent of the respondents said that they
had not paid money or done a personal favour to anyone in the department to
get their work done. Among the respondents (only two) who paid such money
or did personal favours, did it during recruitment/transfer/posting process and
one did it for entitlements (leave, allocation of work, etc.).
Satisfaction Levels and Suggestions
w An overwhelming majority (98 percent) of the respondents said that they were
satisfied with the way BESCOM performed.
98 percent respondents are
Among the employees who were not satisfied, satisfied with the performance
54 percent asked for providing more staff; 47 of BESCOM
percent asked for providing good quality
materials and 14 percent called for better service delivery from the BESCOM.
w Also, 94 percent said that they were completely satisfied with their job in
BESCOM; while only three percent were dissatisfied.

56
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Chart 3.5 : Overall satisfaction across Circles and Zones

Reasons for dissatisfaction and suggestions for improvement: The matrix given below
provides reasons for dissatisfaction, requirements for complete satisfaction and
suggestions for improvement.

Table 3.6: Reasons for dissatisfaction & Suggestions for Improvements

Requirements for Reasons for Suggestions for


complete satisfaction Dissatisfaction Improvement
w Need to increase w Round the clock duty (72 w Increase in staff strength (93
staff (33 percent) percent) percent)
w Reduce the work w Late hours of work (67 w Fixation of duration of
load (19 percent) percent) duty hours (53 percent)
w Provide quality material (10 w No time to attend to family w Proper rest and leave (44
percent) (33 percent) percent)
w Uniform Increment, w Not given due recognition w Mandatory shift system (43
Compensation (10 percent) of good work (22 percent) percent)
w Corruption (17 percent) w Increase in salary and
w Pressure/interference from amenities (27 percent)
influential People (11 w VRS should be allowed (17
percent) percent)
w Division level enforcement
team is needed (8 percent)

Changes observed (in the last three years): 60 percent of the staff who were interviewed
noticed changes over the past three years in the department. The table given below
provides information regarding positive and negative changes observed by the staff.

57
An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Positive Changes Negative Changes


w Improvement in giving good service w Materials are not good (33 percent)
to the public (29 percent) w Staff is not working properly (17 percent)·
w Revenue collection has improved (17 w Billing problem (17 percent)
percent)
w Workload is high (17 percent)
w Regular power supply (12 percent)
w Transformer is not good (6 percent)
w Vehicle provided (12 percent)
w Problem with Walkie-Talkie (6 percent)
w Safety material has been given
(10 percent)
w Improvement in poles/Lines/cables (9
percent)
w Getting the required quality material,
improvement supplying of transformer
(8 percent)

Observations and Feedback from Assistant Accounts Officers (AAOs)


w Feedback regarding major responsibilities of was collected. Maintaining of
AAO
accounts (100 percent), revenue collection (92 percent), handling financial matters
(91 percent), redressing billing problems (81 percent) and maintaining consumer
database were the major responsibilities taken care of by the AAOs.
w On an average, each office has 10 members on the staff
rolls. Almost two-thirds (62 percent) of them reported The office of the
AAO is severely
that staff strength is insufficient for discharging duties and
understaffed
sought an additional four staff members to share their
work.
w Lack of sufficient staff strength (44 percent), computer problems (42 percent),
billing machine problems (21 percent), overload of work (12 percent) and lack
of well-trained staff (10 percent) are major problems faced by the AAOs.
Observations of infrastructure and records revealed the following:
w 73 percent of the buildings were found to be pucca buildings and in good
condition and 72 percent of the surveyed office buildings were owned by
BESCOM. The average number of rooms in offices was found to be four and
most offices appeared clean.
w 98 percent of the Sub-divisions/O&M offices had name boards, most of which
were clearly visible to the public.
w 90 percent of the visited Sub-Divisions/O&M offices had telephones and 94

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percent of these telephones were in working condition. In 61 percent of the


offices having telephones, there was a list displaying important contact numbers
next to the telephone; 62 percent of the Sub-divisions/O&M offices had a notice
board within the premises, displaying important contact numbers for
complainants facing problem while lodging a complaint.
w 40 percent of the Sub-divisions/O&M offices had signboards within the Sub-
division/O&M office premises, displaying Citizen’s Charters, fee for application
and new connections.
w Office staff attendance register (100 percent), complaint register (92 percent),
material maintenance register (85 percent), DTC (Distribution Transformer Center)
maintenance register (93 percent), MNR (Meter Not Recording) register (98
percent), T&P (Tools and Plants) register (96 percent) and temporary installation
register (94 percent) were in place.
In terms of staff strength required as per sanctioned against currently occupied posts,
the following observations are being made.
w There is an urgent need to fill sanctioned posts, especially those of Mechanic,
Lineman and ALM/JLM, particularly in Tumkur and Davangere Circles.
w On an average, for AEE cadre, one additional staff in BRAZ and CTAZ Zones is
required immediately; for AE/JE/MG 1&2 Cadres two additional persons are
required;
w Five LM cadre staff are required across all Circles immediately.
w For ALM/JLMcadre, highest additional staff is required in Bangalore Rural and
Kolar Circles (9), followed by East, North & Davangere (5) and BESCOM as a
whole 6 ALM/JLM staff is required immediately.
w Finally, on an average taking into consideration all levels of staff, each office
requires 13 members immediately to meet public demands for better service
delivery.

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Table 3.7 Required staff by levels across Circles & Zones

Name of the Circle Name of


the Zone
SO EA NO WE B(R) KO TU DA BM BR CT BES
AEE
N 7 7 8 4 8 7 7 4 26 15 11 52
Working staff
insufficient (%) 0 0 0 0 13 14 43 75 0 13 55 15
On average needed
extra staff 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
AE/JE
N 8 8 8 8 16 17 17 18 32 33 35 100
Working staff
insufficient (%) 13 44 0 25 38 59 24 22 21 48 23 31
On average needed
extra staff 3 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 3 2
Mechanical Grade 1 & 2
N 8 8 8 8 16 17 17 18 32 33 35 100
Working staff
insufficient (%) 57 33 75 38 50 69 47 39 50 59 43 51
On average needed
extra staff 3 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 2 3 2 2
Linemen
N 8 8 8 8 16 17 17 18 32 33 35 100
Working staff
insufficient (%) 50 67 75 50 81 94 65 61 61 88 63 70
On average needed
extra staff 5 4 6 3 6 8 4 4 5 7 4 5
ALM/JLM
N 8 8 8 8 16 17 17 18 32 33 35 100
Working staff
insufficient (%) 63 67 75 75 73 82 59 72 70 78 66 71
On average needed
extra staff 3 5 5 4 9 9 4 5 4 9 5 6
Overseer/ Meter Reader / Operator
N 8 8 8 8 16 17 17 18 32 33 35 100
Working staff
insufficient (%) 75 33 25 50 75 76 47 56 45 76 51 57
On average needed
extra staff 3 3 3 2 2 4 3 2 2 3 2 3
Overall staff shortage & additional staff required
N 8 8 8 8 16 17 17 18 32 33 35 100
Working staff
insufficient (%) 75 78 75 88 88 100 76 72 79 94 74 82
On average needed
extra staff 8 7 11 7 9 10 7 12 10 19 10 13

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Conclusions and
Policy Recommendations

One of the objectives of this study was to assist BESCOM to use the information and
knowledge generated, so that actionable policies and remedies can be formulated. This
chapter puts together the conclusions drawn from this study and their policy
implications.
1. Getting a connection: Our findings show that less than one-fourth (24 percent) of
the users interacted directly with BESCOM offices to get a new connection. More
than three-fourths (76 percent) of the users approached intermediaries/middlemen/
third party systems to get new connections which
led to extra monetary burden on them. This In spite of ease of new
reflects the need to take necessary action to connection process (60
percent), there is high depend-
minimize or prevent middlemen involvement for ence on third parties for
getting a connection by simplifying the application getting a new connection.
process (40 percent reported that application
process is difficult) and using new technology (making everything through online).
2. Low awareness levels regarding power-saving bulbs: More than half the number of
respondents said that they are using a minimum of two incandescent bulbs (which
consumes more power) even though campaigns and awareness programmes have
taken place to stop using incandescent bulbs. Renewed efforts are required to heighten
awareness among users regarding power saving alternatives.
3. Forced expenditure to maintain coping mechanisms: To avoid power cuts and
voltage fluctuations, 47 percent of the respondents are using coping strategies to
support electrical appliances for consistent power supply which involves extra money
to maintain these peripherals. BESCOM should endeavour to provide information
regarding power supply durations and maintain consistent voltage to ensure
consumer comfort.

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4. Prevalence of corruption: In the process of getting a connection, one-fifth (20


percent) of the users did not receive any receipt while 11 percent received receipts
for partial amount paid. This clearly shows that unaccountable money-taking practices
are prevalent, which leads to low levels of satisfaction ratings by consumers and
creates a bad image about BESCOM’s service delivery. BESCOM’s efforts to use
technology and reduce user-provider direct interaction should help in bringing down
corruption levels.
5. Problem incidence and resolution: Almost one-third (31 percent) of the users had
a problem with BESCOM’s services, but except for BMAZ, less than half the number
of respondents had contacted BESCOM office to get their problems resolved; of
those almost three-fourths (71 percent) got their
problems resolved. High problem-incidence was Lack of availability of
information with staff and time
observed in Kolar and Tumkur Circles with the taken to attend to problem are
latter reporting low problem resolution. In spite matters of concern among
of problems, there is less frequency of lodging those who visited the Bescom
complaints due to lack of awareness and use of offices
informal channels.
6. Poor awareness regarding BESCOM’s information channels: Poor levels of awareness
of the BESCOM information booklet (five percent), Customer Interaction Meetings
(CIM, 0.2 percent), and the BESCOM Website (0.4 percent) indicates that
BESCOM has a long way to go to disseminate its information providing channels
among its consumers, especially in the light of findings that show corruption practices
while getting a new connection. The department not only needs to put in user-
friendly governance practices in place, but also document them in its information
channels, disseminate them and thus showcase its accountability among its
consumers.
7. Work overload and multi-tasking: On an average each sub-division addresses 83,068
consumers and each O&M addresses 39,305 consumers; as of now at all levels there
is shortage (27 percent) of working strength as against sanctioned strength and this
gap is highest among the ALM/JLM (39 percent)
and Lineman (29 percent) cadres. With Work overload seems to be the
single biggest issue with
insufficient working staff there is an additional
Bescom staff personnel. This
burden on the current working staff who are is further aggravated by the
working under 24/7 (17-24 hours) conditions failure to fill sanctioned posts.
especially in Tumkur, Davangere, Bangalore Rural
and Kolar Circles. On the whole, each office requires approximately 13 staff members
for all levels immediately to meet consumer expectations for better service delivery.
Mix of duties including maintenance of lines (75 percent), addressing consumer
grievances (56 percent), revenue collection (51 percent), action for prevention of

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theft (43 percent), receiving applications (32 percent) and meter reading (22 percent)
are major multi-tasking as part of the work culture. To meet BESCOM guidelines
for consumer grievances, more than half (55 percent) the number of the interviewed
staff reported that with current office strength they are not able to manage all
deliverables, needing not only more staff but also quality material for better service
delivery. There is clear evidence that work overload, gaps in sanctioned and working
staff, lack of adequate materials, and low quality materials contribute to the problems
identified by the users. Since the intensity of these issues vary among Zones and
Circles, solutions have to be contextual in nature.
8. Support and loyalty among BESCOM personnel: Among the staff, there are both
positive and negative reflections. Most of the staff got their weekly holidays whenever
they required.
Receiving safety tools in time and their quality were found to be good among those
who required them. But, in each office, only 44 percent of the staff received the
safety tools while the rest are yet to receive them. About 60 percent received walkie-
talkie, of them three-fourths received training on how to use them. Most of the staff
attended different training programmes and felt that these were useful. Only one-
third (33 percent) of those interviewed were appreciated for their work. This is an
aspect that needs more attention. Most of the staff also reported getting good
support from their superior officers, which give them more enthusiasm to work.
However, influence from outside sources seems to have affected their work as such
involvement has often been a hindrance in their day-to-day work.
This study clearly showed very low levels of awareness about funds received by each
office for various purposes, pointing towards the need to take efforts to make the
staff more knowledgeable about reforms, policy changes with action-taken messages
being disseminated instantly. Around two-thirds (60 percent) of the staff said that
they have observed some positive changes over the past three years within the
department in terms of improvement in giving good service to the public (29
percent), improvement in revenue collection (17 percent), regular power supply (12
percent), providing vehicles (12 percent), providing safety materials (10 percent),
improvement in poles/lines/cables (nine percent), getting the required quality
materials, improvement in supply of transformers (eight percent).
An encouraging finding is the high levels of trust and satisfaction shown by staff
with the department, which opens the door to improve efficiency and productiveness
of the staff with their support. This is an asset on which the department can build,
in order to achieve better performance. That such high level of loyalty and trust has
been displayed or conveyed by the staff is commendable as their work-related
problems as discussed are not insignificant.

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9. Satisfaction contrasts between users and personnel: One of the interesting findings
of the study is the contrast between the satisfaction levels indicated by BESCOM
staff personnel as opposed to the satisfaction levels of users. While only 52 percent
of the users have indicated complete satisfaction with their interaction with the
department, the satisfaction of the staff personnel with their performance is much
higher (94 percent). It is important to understand that the assessment of the users
reflects their experience with the services they obtain at the Sub-division or O&M
offices and since BESCOM is a service delivery entity, it needs to find ways to
improve consumer satisfaction and not take comfort in the reported high levels of
satisfaction mentioned by the staff.
10. Wide regional variations: There are wide regional variations on various aspects of
service delivery across the Zones. It would be good to target those weak areas in the
system in each of the Zones. Some of them include – the CTAZ Zone especially
reflects the highest proportion of problems from the respondents – frequent and
longer power cuts, unscheduled power cuts, difficulty in getting a connection, and
lack of immediate response. Since Circles and Zones vary in their socio-economic
conditions and levels of development, there is a need to pay greater attention to the
quality of management, supervision, and the types of training being provided in
the Circles and the Zones.

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An Assessment of BESCOM Services

Follow-up Action

One of the main objectives of the study was to assist BESCOM, to use the information
and knowledge generated through the study so that actionable policies and remedies
can be formulated. To ensure the same, it was felt that the findings of the study
should be shared with all senior level officials in BESCOM so that issues could be
discussed, debated and remedial actions arrived at.

Dissemination of Findings
1. Upon completion of data analysis and interpretation of the data collected from
the field survey, PAC made a presentation to BESCOM officials who had gathered
from all the eight jurisdictional districts on the day of Officers Review Meeting
(ORM) held in February 2013. Points of concern that were highlighted during
the presentation were discussed and corrective measures suggested that were closely
minuted.
2. These were then put together in the form of recommendations that BESCOM
proposed to undertake and shared with PAC.

Recommendations proposed by BESCOM


The following table presents in detail, the recommendations that BESCOM has
come out with to follow-up on issues of concern that the study by PAC raised
during their presentation and subsequent findings report.

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Annexure 1: Sampling Design

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Annexure 2: Tables on User Feedback

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Annexure 3: Tables on BESCOM Feedback

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Recent Releases
A Life and Its Lessons: Memoirs
Samuel Paul
Samuel Paul, well-known scholar, institution-builder and social activist, tells his life
story and distills the lessons of experience learnt from a wide range of institutions,
both national and international, with which he was associated. In a long and
distinguished career, he has been the Director of the Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad, adviser to the United Nations, ILO and the World Bank, founder and
first chairperson of Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore, author of “citizen report cards”
and other pioneering tools of social accountability. His reflections on the success
and sustainability of institutions offer important insights of relevance to practitioners,
scholars and students alike. The story is told in a lucid style, with candour, wit and
sensitivity to the great social challenges of our time.

Improving Governance the Participatory Way


Meena Nair • K. Prabhakar • Prarthana Rao • Poornima G.R.
This publication records the implementation of a successful initiative by Public Affairs
Centre (PAC), in partnership with grassroot organizations like Centre for Advocacy
and Research (CFAR), Society for People’s Action for development (SPAD), and
Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) in creating an effective participatory
citizen-provider engagement model which helped improve the quality of service
delivery in selected Maternity Homes run by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara
Palike (BBMP or Greater Bangalore Municipal Corporation).
The initiative which began in the form of a study of the quality of services in these
Maternity Homes by using well known Social Accountability Tools such as Citizen
Report Cards (CRC), Budget Analysis and Community Score Cards (CSC), led to the
formation of Maternity Home Monitoring Committees (MHMCs) in the catchment areas
of three Maternity Homes. These MHMCs not only monitor services at the Maternity Homes, but also undertake awareness
building activities on maternal health entitlements during their regular interactions with community members in the Maternity
Home catchment areas, in cooperation with Maternity Home staff members and BBMP officials.
Phase II of the project attempts to replicate the model in more Maternity Homes and Referral Hospitals along with budget
advocacy on better implementation of incentive schemes.

Citizen Voices in Environmental Governance – Proccedings of the


Colloquium organised by the Environmental Governance Group
Bangalore, 23-24 August 2012.
Bolstered by the ’s experience with harvesting citizen opinion through Climate Change
Score Cards in the Gulf of Mannar, and representing these to those in governance
through a series of structured meetings, PAC has been encouraged to share this
experience and locate it within other similar efforts in the context of this Colloquium.
This brief meeting evoked a lot of interest from a wide range of actors in this sector and
provided the much-needed kick-start to formalize spaces within policy formulation
procedures for citizen voice and expression. More important, it created the common
ground among diverse stakeholders and practitioners to take forward a few of these
ideas to fruition.

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Changing the Urban Face of Karnataka: Evidence from Three Urban Development
Programmes

Kala Seetharam Sridhar, Venugopala Reddy, Pavan Srinath


This publication has its genesis in an evaluation study that Public Affairs Centre did for the
Expenditure Reforms Commission, Government of Karnataka, on three programmes – one
centrally-sponsored infrastructure development programme, the Urban Infrastructure Scheme for
Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), one state-funded infrastructure programme, the Mukhya
Mantrigala Nagarothana Yojane (MMNY), and a centrally-sponsored urban poverty alleviation
programme, the Swarna Jayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY).
The ERC wanted to know if centrally-sponsored infrastructure schemes were any different from
the state-sponsored schemes in terms of their cost-effectiveness. It was found that centrally-
sponsored schemes are much better in terms of contracting, since their agreements tend to be
more complete in terms of the time frame, budget, output and outcomes to be accomplished. However, in terms of
programme implementation, it found that state-sponsored schemes were much better since the infrastructure is eventually
locally owned and used.
The recommendations of this report were incorporated in the Expenditure Reforms Commission’s Third Report to the
Government of Karnataka in May 2011.

Citizen Monitoring and Audit of PMGSY Roads Pilot Phase II


CASG Team, PAC
Pilot Phase II study was conceived in the backdrop of experiences gained during Pilot Phase
I, and was launched in November 2008 to field-test a set of instruments in Orissa and Karnataka
for monitoring the quality of some of the ongoing PMGSY work, auditing the performance of
completed roads under this scheme and gathering feedback from beneficiaries with regard to
their awareness, problems faced, potential and actual benefits and level of satisfaction. Ten
completed roads and eight ongoing road projects in Orissa and Karnataka were selected for
study in this Phase.
This publication summarises PAC’s experiences in Phases I and II, and is aimed at all who
believe that citizen knowledge can be a valuable resource in the development and maintenance
of public assets.
A Green Manifesto for Environmental Governance – A people-centred tool and approach
PAC Environmental Governance Group
Environmental Governance Group (EnGG) believes that integrating the concerns of the
common person in an organic fashion through ‘Community-centred Governance’ is the best
way to address the issues arising from the impact of climate change.
In the backdrop of the legislative elections in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Public
Affairs Centre initiated the process of developing a Green Manifesto for Tamil Nadu.
Following a chain of consultations with various stakeholders, a Green Manifesto was
drafted and released simultaneously in various parts of the state, including Chennai,
Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Salem and other districts. The process is amply described
in this publication.

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Working Paper No. 1


India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): Has it
impacted poverty?
Kala Seetharam Sridhar, A.Venugopala Reddy
The objectives of this paper are several and the authors answer questions such
as whether the NREGS wages have been above their reservation wages; whether
NREGA has been successful in checking rural-urban migration, and so on. Further,
they estimate the reservation wages as a function of individual and labour market
characteristics. This is the first study to estimate reservation wages in the Indian
context and compute net benefits from NREGS jobs. This working paper makes an
attempt to understand what demand–side (individual) and supply–side (programme)
characteristics determine enrolment in the NREGS programme and further,
determine the NREGS wages.

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PAC Publications
1. Strengthening Public Accountability: New Approaches and Mechanisms (Samuel Paul), 1995.
2. Public Services and the Urban Poor in Mumbai: A Report Card (Suresh Balakrishnan, Sita Sekhar), 1995.
3. Corruption: Who will Bell the Cat? (Samuel Paul), 1997.
4. Bangalore Hospitals and the Urban Poor: A Report Card (Suresh Balakrishnan, Anjana Iyer), 1998.
5. Prometheus Unbound Or, Still in Chains? A Report Card on the Impact of Economic Reforms on the Private
Enterprise Sector in India (Gopakumar K. Thampi), 1998.
6. Elections in Bangalore Municipal Corporation: An Experiment to Stimulate Informed Choices (S. Manjunath),
1998.
7. Voices from the Capital: A Report Card on Public Service in Delhi (Sita Sekhar, Suresh Balakrishnan),
1999.
8. A Citizens’ Report Card on Karnataka’s Governance (Samuel Paul, Gopakumar K), 1999.
9. City Finances in India: Some Disquieting Trends (Sita Sekhar, Smita Bidarkar), 1999.
10. Strengthening Public Accountability and Good Governance (K. Gopakumar), 1999.
11. Public Interest Litigation: A Tool for Social Action and Public Accountability (Anuradha Rao), 1999.
12. State of the Art as Art of the State: Evaluating e-governance Initiatives through citizen feedback (Ramesh
Ramanathan, Suresh Balakrishnan), 2000.
13. Wanted: An Enabling Industrial Environment in Karnataka (Samuel Paul, Sheila Premkumar, Prasann
Thatte), 2000.
14. Benchmarking Urban Services: The Second Report Card on Bangalore (Samuel Pual, Sita Sekhar), 2000.
15. Citizen’s Audit of Public Services in Rural Tamil Nadu (Catalyst Trust, Public Affairs Centre), 2001.
16. Civic Engagement for Better Public Governance (Manjunath Sadashiva, Suresh Balakrishnan), 2002.
17. New Media and People’s Empowerment: The Second Public Affairs Lecture (Dr. Mallika Sarabhai), 2002.
18. ABC… Of Voting: A Guide For Voting in Indian Elections (Public Affairs Centre), 2002.
19. Universal Elementary Education: A Way Forward for India. The Third Annual Public Affairs Lecture (Azim
Premji), 2003.
20. A Report Card on Bhoomi Kiosks (Albert Lobo, Suresh Balakrishnan), 2004.
21. Towards User Report Cards on Irrigation Services (Suresh Balakrishnan, Albert Lobo), 2004.
22. BATF: A Partnership with Promise? The Fourth Annual Public Affairs Lecture (Nandan M. Nilekani),
2004.
23. Public Affairs Centre: A Retrospective 1994 - 2000.
24. Holding a Mirror to the New Lok Sabha (Samuel Paul, M. Vivekananda), 2005.
25. Karnataka’s Citizens’ Charters: A Preliminary Assessment (Anuradha Rao), 2005.
26. Electoral Disclosure in Karnataka: A Reality Check (Samuel Paul, Poornima D.G., Anuradha Rao), 2005.
27. Spirituality & Universality: The Fifth Annual Public Affairs Lecture ( Sri Sri Ravi Shankar), 2005.
28. Benchmarking India’s Public Services: A comparison across the states (Samuel Paul, Suresh Balakrishnan, K.
Gopakumar, Sita Sekhar, M. Vivekananda), 2005.
29. Setting a Benchmark: Citizen Report Card on Public Services in Bhubaneswar (Public Affairs Centre,
Centre for Youth and Social Development), 2005.
30. Are They Being Served? Citizen Report Card on Public Services for the Poor in Peri-Urban Areas of Bangalore
(Sita Sekhar, Meena Nair, Venugopala Reddy), 2005.
31. Holding the State to Account: Lessons of Bangalore’s Citizen Report Cards (Samuel Paul), 2006.
32. Deepening Democracy: A Decade of Electoral Interventions by Civil Society Groups 1996-2006 (Public
Affairs Centre), 2006.

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33. Benchmarking Bangalore’s Public Services: What the Third Citizen Report Card Reveals (Sita Sekhar, Manisha
Shah), 2006.
34. Citizenship and Good Governance: The Sixth Annual Public Affairs Lecture (Sheila Dikshit), 2006.
35. Public Services in Hubli-Dharwad: A Citizen Report Card (Sita Sekhar, Meena Nair, Venugopala Reddy),
2007.
36. Greater Bangalore Governance Options (S. Krishna Kumar), 2007.
37. Assessment of Citizen Centres in Tamil Nadu (Sita Sekhar, Meena Nair, A. Venugopala Reddy, K.
Prabhakar), 2007.
38. Public Services in Hubli-Dharwad: The Second Citizen Report Card (Sita Sekhar, Meena Nair, K. Prabhakar,
Prarthana Rao), 2008.
39. Decentralised Service Delivery in Panchayats: A Pilot Citizens’ Audit (Sita Sekhar, Meena Nair, A. Venugopala
Reddy), 2008.
40. Public Services Provided by Gram Panchayats in Chattisgarh: A Citizen Report Card (Sita Sekhar, Meena
Nair, K. Prabhakar), 2008.
41. Study of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Initiatives on Universalisation of Elementary Education in Karnataka with
Special Reference to Concerns of Gender and Equity (Sita Sekhar, Meena Nair, K. Prabhakar, Prarthana
Rao), 2009.
42. Services of Gram Panchayats in Koraput, Orissa: A Citizen Report Card (Sita Sekhar, Meena Nair, K.
Prabhakar, Prarthana Rao), 2009.
43. A Mirror to the Police: A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police (Meena Nair, K. Prabhakar,
Prarthana Rao), 2010.
44. Towards a Vibrant Knowledge Society: A Stakeholder Audit of the Karnataka Jnana Aayoga (Shweta Gaur,
Nivedita Kashyap, Meena Nair, R. Suresh), 2011.
45. A Life and Its Lessons: Memoirs (Samuel Paul), 2012.
46. Citizen Monitoring and Audit of PMGSY Roads: Pilot Phase II (Public Affairs Centre), 2012.
47. Improving Governance the Participatory Way: A pilot study of maternal health services for urban poor in
Bangalore (Meena Nair, K Prabhakar, Prarthana Rao, Poornima G. R.), 2012.
48. Case Studies from the Social Audit of Public Service Delivery in Karnataka (M. Vivekananda, S. Sreedharan,
Malavika Belavangala), 2012.
49. Changing the Urban Face of Karnataka: Evidence from three urban development programmes (Kala S Sridhar,
Venugopala Reddy, Pavan Srinath), 2012.
50. Citizen Voices in Environmental Governance–Proccedings of the Colloquium organised by the
Environmental Governance Group Bangalore – 23-24 August 2012.
51. Social Audit of Public Service Delivery in Karnataka (M. Vivekananda, Dr. S. Sreedharan, Malavika
Belavangala), 2012.
52. Transforming Karnataka into a Vibrant Knowledge Society (Satyajeet Nanda, Nivedita Kashyap, Meena
Nair, R. Suresh), 2013.
53. A Green Manifesto for Environmental Governance – A people-centred tool and approach (PAC Environmental
Governance Group), 2013.

PAC Books by other Publishers


1. Holding the State to Account: Citizen Monitoring in Action (Samuel Paul), Books for Change: 2002.
2. Who Benefits from India’s Public Services? (Samuel Paul, Suresh Balakrishnan, K. Gopakumar, Sita
Sekhar, M. Vivekananda), Academic Foundation: 2006.
3. State of Urban Services in India’s Cities (Kala Seetharam Sridhar, A. Venugopala Reddy), Oxford
University Press India: 2010.
4. State of Our Cities: Evidence from Karnataka (Samuel Paul, Kala Seetharam Sridhar, A. Venugopala
Reddy, Pavan Srinath), Oxford University Press India: 2012.

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