KARACHI, Aug 14: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation will double the number of complaint centres in the city over the next five months. Sources told Dawn on Friday that at present the power utility runs 77 complaint centres.

"The existing complaint centre zones are being restructured. The zones which have already been restructured are Defence, Clifton, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Saddar, Garden, Site Industrial Area, Korangi Industrial Area, Lyari and Baldia. In Dec 2004, the KESC will have over 150 complaint centres," they said.

The KESC sources said that after restructuring, each complaint centre would cover from 10,000 to 12,000 consumers. They added that the complaint centres would offer one-window facility to consumers.

"Previously, there was one complaint centre in Defence, with two telephone sets. It used to receive complaints from 100,000 consumers. Now there are seven complaint centres in Defence," they explained.

The KESC sources said that previously the complaint centres used to attend only localized minor complaints. "They used to attend to underground cable faults and high-tension faults. Now they perform a wide range of duties - from installation of new connections to billing to repair of faults. An SDO at a complaint centre would be responsible for billing and metering of electricity in his zone. He would also be tasked to meet revenue targets and check power pilferage," they said.

They said that complaint centres would be also be self-contained. "That is to say, they would have all the equipment and manpower to repair faults. Each complaint centre has four motorized tower ladders," they said.

They conceded that still the number of restructured complaint centres was not adequate to meet the demands of over 1.8 million KESC subscribers in the city. But they pointed out that apart from localized complaint centres, other helpline numbers - 118, 15 and 134 - would continue to receive complaints.