Johannesburg City Power has unveiled a service that allows people to report problems online and via SMS.
The service can be accessed on the City Power Web site under “Web fault logging”. There are links provided to “Log a new fault”, “Check the status of an existing fault” (by either reference number or by cell number), and “Register and get a WAP bookmark SMSed to your cellphone”.
To log a fault, users must provide a cellphone number and details of the problem. Once a fault is reported, residents can keep tabs on its progress through the Web interface.
City Power MD Silas Zimu says the service is a bi-directional system that enables users to get feedback, as the call centre is too busy to contact customers and tends to receive more calls than it is able to make.
“The electricity framework starts and ends with the customer, and in the middle is communications. As the technology evolves, we will try to make this middle part easier for the people.”
The Web and SMS logging system was implemented two months ago. However, Zimu says the release was overshadowed by the excitement of the World Cup and so the power utility decided to re-launch the service now.
“I believe, if it works well, all municipalities should implement it, as it does not require much capital and can run on servers which are there already,” explains Zimu.
He sees the service being used in the future to notify people of problems before they even realise they have occurred. It may also enable electronic delivery and payment of bills one day.
City Power recently came under fire for being unable to cope with call volumes in its call centre.
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