<I was able to get an electricity department staff member on the line. He said the feeder station had begun delivering power a short while earlier. I told him Betim and Verem, at that very moment, were dark. He however insisted his station was functioning normally. A recording device that generated data about power would have been very helpful.>[Rahul Goswami, May 30]
This post is basically a plea for transparency in the Electricity Dept (ED). Ideally, the need for internal (operational) transparency should emerge from ED staff themselves.They must want to be the best in supplying steady and reliable electricity in the country and in quickly and comprehensively responding to emergencies. This would obviate the need for customers to tell them what they should do as people are usually allergic to such "suggestions". The other issue is: when there is transparency then the need to act is highlighted. One obvious lacuna is the need for upgrading the competences of the ED staff. In my building recently there were some instances of a couple of flat owners complaining of highly inflated electricity bills. Investigations supposedly revealed that this was due to misreading of electricity meters by the ED staff. To correct this, print outs were stuck next to the affected meter boxes instructing the meter readers how to read the values. This seems like an incredibly basic problem! Another area where action may be necessary is making the network more robust to withstand outages etc. This might involve putting cables underground an expensive proposition. But see the wonders it has worked on the phone system. The latter is one of the few things which continue to work when the power is out. Speaking of expense, my impression is that electricity in Goa is almost dirt cheap. People are even asking for rebates when power goes on the blink. They might jump out of their skins if they were told that steady and reliable power 24x7 might involve paying rather higher electricity bills! ED has to prepare the ground for this.
