PRESS NOTE

Eastern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Limited (APEPDCL) is embarking on a drive to provide next generation of customer services unheard of in the Indian power distribution sector. As part of this initiative APEPDCL is launching a series of customer friendly services based on its state-of-the-art centralized call center. As part of this, the Chairman and Managing Director of APEPDCL Sri. N.Gulzar, inaugurated the IVRS facility to 155333 electricity call center in customer care center at Vuda udyogabhavan near Siripuram on today i.e. 6th December 2008. These services will be first launched in Visakhapatnam city from today onwards and then rolled out to all the 5 districts from 1st January 2009.

On this occasion The CMD has announced so many customer initiatives:

Single number for all consumers: All the calls made to 155333 from any where in the 5 districts of APEPDCL will land at the centralized call center in Visakhapatnam. The call center is operated round the clock throughout the year.

Single number for all services: Customers can use a single number (155333) to seek information, lodge complaints (including power failure, billing, payments), inform about power theft, and register service requests (including new service connection, title transfer, category change, load enhancement requests) over phone.

Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS): An advanced IVR system helps the customers to easily retrieve the required information, lodge complaints and place service requests without the intervention of customer representatives at the call center.

Customer facilitation centers: If a complaint or service request requires a fee to be paid to EPDCL or some documents to be submitted, the complaint/request is registered and the caller is requested to visit the nearest customer facilitation center by referring the registration number. All such complaints/requests would be resolved as per the service levels defined by the citizen charter, after the payment of fee and document submission.

Door-step services: If the customers do not have the time or convenience to visit the customer facilitation centers, they can avail the door-step service at a nominal charge. A messenger will be dispatched to customer premises to collect the fee and documents and issue a receipt for the same.

Privilege Desks: Exclusive customer support desks will be setup for high value and HT consumers and senior citizens to quickly register and resolve their requests.

These services are powered by advanced Customer Care and Interaction Management software’s eCare and eCall (of Phoenix mPower product suite) developed and deployed by Phoenix IT Solutions Ltd, Visakhapatnam on Software as a Service (Saas) model. Together they facilitate APEPDCL to offer many such services from concept to delivery with advanced features like ACD, CTI Skill based rooting, SMS, GIS /SCADA integration, call monitoring, recording, reporting, etc.

In a move to encourage these innovative services, customers utilizing the IVRS and door-step services to fulfil their requests will be awarded surprise gifts.

About EPDCL:
APEPDCL, Visakhapatnam is the leading Indian utility serving a consumer base of nearly 4 million spread across five districts in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. It has always been a pioneer in delivering technology centric customer care services to its customers. EPDCL has the lowest AT&C losses and one of the best in terms of operational efficiency.
Most of the customer care centers of EPDCL operated by Phoenix are ISO 9001 certified. The customer services offered at these centers are of the highest standards achieving close to 100% service levels with close monitoring and escalation upto the CMD level. Many of the services at these centers are offered within shorter timeframes than those suggested by the Citizen Charter; for example new service connection within 48 hours, which is another first in the Indian utility sector.

About Phoenix IT Solutions:
Phoenix IT Solutions Ltd is the pioneer and the leader in offering a wide range of integrated services and IT solutions to the utilities sector in the Indian subcontinent. With an unwavering commitment and focus towards the utilities sector, Phoenix has gained tremendous amount of domain expertise and project execution abilities over the years.
Backed by ISO certified process frameworks, time tested service delivery models and robust technology support; Phoenix is associated with EPDCL in all their customer service initiatives right from conceptualization to process definition, software design and development, training, service delivery, benchmarking, and continuous improvement.

In this programme Directors V.Suryanarayana, H.Y.Doara, Y.Narayana, CGM (O&CS) B.Ramesh Prasad, Phoenix IT Solutions M.D., G.S.Murali Krishna, GM (CS) M.Sambaiha,S.E., Visakhapatnam circle B.Seshukumar were participated.

To
All the Bureau Chiefs/ Editors/Staff Reporters,
Print and Electronic Media,
Visakhapatnam City/Visakhapatnam District.

Click here for Telugu Version