franchise News India,PATNA: Essel Vidyut Vitaran Muzaffarpur Limited (EVVML) is all set to take over the power distribution in Muzaffarpur area from Friday under its flagship brand ‘Smart Utilities’.

EVVML would undertake all activities relating to distribution of power in the franchise area, including network operation and maintenance, new service connections, customer care, upgrading, improving and augmenting network capacity.

The company aims at providing efficient power distribution services in Muzaffarpur city and has set up 24X7 consumer helpline number to deliver unmatched consumer experience. said an EVVML official.

EVVML has been awarded the power distribution franchise for Muzaffarpur city by North Bihar Power Distribution Co Ltd (NBPDCL) for a period of 15 years starting November 1 through a competitive bidding process.

Essel Utilities is the first integrated utility company in India that has acquired power and water distribution projects for major cities in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

Muzaffarpur city distribution franchise (DF) area comprises an estimated population of 26.65 lakh with 1.49 lakh registered power consumers. The current aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) loss stands at an excessively high level of 66.17%. Out of its 17 blocks, 10 blocks would be covered.

The franchisee area consists of two administrative subdivisions of Muzaffarpur east and west covering Kurhani (174 villages), Kanti (111), Marwan (66), Minapur (155), Mushahari (121), Bochaha (136), Aurai (118), Katra (84), Gaighat (187) and Muraul (54) blocks.

The call centre can be reached at any time to register complaints, request for new connection, billing, payments, faulty meter replacement and other facilities, said an official. The service request number will be given to the consumer to ensure fast track solution to the problems.

The state-of-the-art consumer centre will come up at Maripur office. Further consumer service centres will be opened at five prominent locations at Saraiyaganj, Kalyani, East (Bhikanpura), West (Bhagwanpur chowk) and SKMCH, Muzaffarpur.

Token machines will be installed at all consumer service centres to avoid long queues and minimum waiting time. GPRS-based meter reading technology would be introduced for GPS-based route sequencing of consumers. e-bills and online bill payment facility will be provided for easy bill payment. The operation and maintenance (O&M) team with dedicated tower ladder vehicles for each area would be available. Sanjiv K Sinha has been made business head of EVVML.