BESCOM

Changing name on the electricity bill is easy. Pic: Shree D N I am a resident of Belathur in Kadugodi(Whitefield) area. Being a new apartment buyer, I started looking for getting things done, such as Electricity name change, Khata registration and others. I was surprised when the builder offered to get the name change in electricity metres done by paying bribe, without me having to visit any government office—he demanded Rs 2,000! I thought of understanding what the actual process is, and what are the fees involved, and tried to do it on my own. To my surprise, after a…

A press note from the Power Ministry, Government of Karnataka, presents the sorry state of affairs in the state, that have forced the State government to announce power cuts. Here follows the press note: Power Position as on 15.08.2015 The state is having an installed capacity of 10189 MW from the conventional sources, but the present availability is only 6600 to 7300 MW from all the sources due to break down in State & Central generating units and reduced hydro availability. Poor monsoon has taken a toll on hydro availability. As on 15th August, the total storage in the 3…

Purnimaa Ranganath writes: "Thanks to BESCOM and its erratic power shut downs already this month my fridge's compressor packed up and had to get it replaced ....and yesterday the power supply went on and off every 5mins...nearly 6 times in an hour...God I hope something else doesn't blow too.." The sad thing is that there is no accountability. Direct switch-offs would not be as bad as the "brownouts" of low voltage, or surge of high voltage, which are deadly to expensive electrical and electronic gadgets, often bought with savings over months. How do we make BESCOM accountable?

At the public hearing conducted by Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on February 6th, several civic groups objected to BESCOM's proposed hike for electricity tariff for the financial year 2016. BESCOM had earlier filed an application proposing a tariff hike of 80 paisa per unit across all consumer categories. B.PAC represented by TV Mohandas Pai, Vice President, Dr Hari Parameshwar, Head of Regulatory affairs and Revathy Ashok, CEO and Managing Trustee, and Aam Aadmi Party - Karnataka (AAP), represented by Ravi Krishna Reddy and Shanthala Damle, submitted their objections to KERC. Eliminate cross-subsidy variation; government should bear cost for farmers:…

Me to BESCOM (Bangalore Power) employee: Can I have an ECS Mandate form, please, to enable me to have the monthly power bill amount deducted from my bank account automatically? (The forms are free, and it took me 3 visits because this gentleman, who is the ONLY one who can disburse these forms, was never in his seat. Today, Hallelujah, he is.) BESCOM employee: You will need two forms, one to be submitted to us, and one for the bank. Me; Can I have another form, then, please? BESCOM employee: (firmly closing the desk in which hundreds of forms are…

  This is my feedback to you on the matter of disconnection of the power supply to my home.   Ms. Surekha called me up from the J P Nagar office of BESCOM and informed me that my bank had dishonoured the ECS payment for August and September, and hence my electricity was cut. She told me that this was also the reason for the lineman demanding the deposit of Rs 1600, and that I should immediately pay  the amount due for electricity charges for  October by cash.    Fearing another disconnection, I went on Monday, 17th Nov and paid…

I emailed Mr Pandey, the MD of BESCOM, as follows: Dear Mr Pandey,  I am a very ordinary consumer, and here are the details about me.  Name: Mrs Deepa Mohan,  Address: xxxxx  Consumer no: xxxx For the past several years,  I  have been using the ECS facility to pay our power bills, and have never once been in arrears. Also, we took the ECS option to prevent our power supply being disconnected, since we travel a lot.  On the 25th of October,  when I was  abroad,  our power supply was disconnected, and five days later, a lineman appeared at our…

Respected Sir, Sub: Imperatives for Smart Power for Smart Bengaluru BESCOM, as also all the other ESCOMs, have been claiming improved performances over the past few years. Even as that may be true, Sir, you'll appreciate that if Bengaluru, and the other Karnataka cities, have to be identified as "smart cities" of the future, the performances of these service providers have a very long way to go. And, it is totally doubtful if they can measure up to the task, given the constraints they are operating under, largely because of government ownership. The biggest problem they are facing today is…

Looking to move into a new house in Bengaluru? Then you need to apply for an electricity connection with BESCOM. This guide will take you through the steps that you need to follow to get a domestic LT connection (applicable for less than 25 KW or less than 500 square metres of built-up area). BESCOM or the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company is in charge of distribution of power to the districts of Bangalore Urban/Rural, Kolar, Tumkur, Ramanagar, Chikkaballapura, Chitradurga and Davanagere. So if you have moved into a new house in any of these areas or you are shifting house, you…

Some areas in Bengaluru faced power cut in the last few days, even when the Energy Department of Karnataka submitted to the High Court that the state has surplus power. However the reason is the pre-monsoon maintenance work being carried out by the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM). KPTCL is carrying out its annual major works around the city. The capital city will continue to have a few power cuts in some areas. Pic for representational purpose only. Courtesy: Reuters In the past eight days, AECS Layout in Whitefield was badly hit by…