More than 43,500 electricity complaints remained pending across PSPCL’s Central Zone over the past five days as the strike by complaint handling bike (CHB) employees severely disrupted ground-level fault restoration, exposing the utility’s dependence on its frontline technical workforce.
Event Context
Official data accessed by Hindustan Times shows that between July 24 and July 28, PSPCL’s Central Zone received 1,47,464 consumer complaints, of which 1,03,928 were attended, while 43,535 remained pending.
The backlog coincided with the CHB employees’ agitation. The CHB staff, regarded as PSPCL’s frontline fault-response teams, had gone on strike on Saturday and resumed duty only around 3 pm on Tuesday, leaving complaint handling and restoration work stretched across Ludhiana, Khanna and suburban areas.
Radhika Sharma, a resident of Agar Nagar, said, “Our locality witnessed repeated power cuts, but restoration took much longer than usual. Earlier, complaints would be attended within an hour or two. This time we kept waiting because there simply weren’t enough staff on the ground.”
Vivek Mehta from Focal Point said, “We understand employees are protesting, but consumers are bearing the brunt. Every fault is taking several hours to be rectified, especially during this humid weather.”
Team Analysis
Officials said while power supply was restored in several cases by available staff, the absence of CHB teams significantly delayed on-site fault rectification.
Consumers in several localities reported waiting for hours for damaged fuses, snapped conductors, transformer faults and feeder-related problems to be attended.
Chief engineer, PSPCL Central Zone, Jagdev Singh Hans, said the strike had affected complaint disposal at the field level.
Residents, however, said outages continued for long hours in several localities during the strike.
Poonam Verma, a resident of Model Town, said, “Even after electricity was restored in our area, the complaint continued showing as pending. Consumers are left confused because they don’t know whether the complaint has actually been resolved or not.”
Employee representatives said complaint handling bike workers resumed duty after receiving assurances from the management, but warned that unresolved issues related to manpower and service conditions would continue to affect field operations if not addressed permanently.
The episode has once again highlighted the growing strain on PSPCL’s field machinery, with officials admitting that prolonged staff shortages and repeated industrial action have made it increasingly difficult to maintain normal complaint redressal timelines, particularly during the ongoing monsoon season when power faults rise sharply.
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Officials said the actual number of unresolved faults is lower, as several complaints continue to appear pending on the portal because outsourced complaint-centre staff, responsible for closing complaints in the system after restoration, are also on strike.
“CHB teams are the first responders for most electricity complaints. Their absence inevitably slowed fault restoration despite our best efforts. Wherever possible, available officers and technical staff were deployed to attend emergencies. Another issue is that many complaints continue to appear pending on the portal because outsourced complaint-centre employees, who update and close complaints after restoration, are also on strike. So the portal pendency does not always reflect the actual ground situation,” Hans said.
