The minister stated that the heat witnessed by the country in the first week of the current holy month of Ramadan led to an increase in electricity consumption, where the maximum load scored 2861 MW in the afternoon of the third day of Ramadan at about 03:00 pm corresponding July 11th 2013.
The minister highlighted that the departments responsible for the operations of the electric grid are continuously monitoring the condition of the weather in summer, for it has a direct relation with the amounts of electricity consumption and running air conditioners, which in turn has a direct reflection on the maximum load recorded by the grid at any moment in the country.
The minister also added that the officials and himself at the authority have direct communication with the officials in the municipal councils, and with the MPs of the Shura and Representatives Councils to be satisfied if there were any complaints or remarks about the performance of the electricity grid and water networks, and the most important are the outages in electricity and water.
Dr. Mirza highlighted that they always pay visits, and the recent was for the main call center of the Authority, where they discussed with the officials in the Electricity and Water Authority, and at the center, and with the senior officials at electricity and water distribution Directorate, the performance of the grid, and the number of incoming calls to the call center about the remarks and complaints of subscribers on the electricity and water services.
Dr. Mirza said that through these visits and follow ups, they have updated several initiatives for improving the service and quickly address the complaints of citizens on the continuity of electricity and water service. He also stressed that all the available contact channels at the moment are used by the main call center, and the most important are through the phone, the auto-answering system, SMS, and electronic mail, in addition to the direct contact between the subscribers and the authority through the electronic website.
The minister expressed his thanks for the CEO, the officials, and the staff at the Authority, as well as his pride with all remarks and the positive praise from the members of the municipal councils and the MPs of the Shura and Representatives Councils on the remarkable improvement in the quality and continuity of electricity and water services, and the positive response of the call center for Electricity and Water Authority.
The minister highlighted that the center managed to respond in less than 20 seconds to more than 80% of the phone calls even at the peak periods. He also said that the call center for electricity emergencies received during the current holy month of Ramadan about 5,282 phone calls compared with 12,603 phone calls in the same period of last Ramadan, with 58% decrease.
In regard of the water emergencies, the minister said that the call center received about 1,270 phone calls compared with 1,876 phone calls in the same period last year during the holy month of Ramadan, with 32% decrease.
According to the latest statistics, the overall performance ratio has improved in reducing the average duration of outages in the last three months as follows:
The month of May 2013 compared with May 2011 the ratio is 62%.
June 2013 compared with June 2011 the ratio is 74%.
July 2013 compared with July 2011 the ratio is 79%.
The minister added that within the preparations for the summer and the holy month of Ramadan the number of staff in the call center has been increased to 75 employees, compared with 45 employees in other periods of the year, so as to provide the maximum level of quality service to citizens, especially in the holy month of Ramadan.
The minister pointed out that the main call center of the Authority provides 40 telephone lines for communication on the unified number 17,515,555 and 10 telephone lines on the toll-free number 80001110, allocated for the communications of water leakages in the streets and street lighting emergencies to provide excellent and high quality services for the citizens and the public in general.
Dr. Mirza pointed out that the comprehensive call center provides services 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the services are provided in both Arabic and English. He also said that because of the breadth and diversity of the segments of the public and subscribers, a third language was launched “the Indian language,” in May of this current year.
The minister added that out of the Authority’s vision towards achieving excellence, and providing better services to subscribers, it has started with the service “Call Me Back,” in the month of March 2013 for the electricity complaints that have been resolved. The operators at the center call the people who communicated, and who received text messages stating that their problems were resolved, and were ensured on the return of the electricity service for them.
The minister highlighted that through the records of the service “Call Me Back,” the number of the outgoing phone calls from the center range from 50 to 140 per day, and the service results lead to the satisfaction and the trust of the subscribers and help the concerned personnel to improve the level of the provided services provided.
In regard to the contingency plans in dealing with the sudden outages, and the logistical support the Authority needs.
“The ministry has executed several measures to reduce the number of disruptions and their duration. The most important of these issues, was to improve the communication with the subscribers through the call center of the Authority to provide them with continuous information on the work developments in repairing the defects and the timing of returning the service after the interruption,” Dr. Mirza said.
The minister also said that SMS text messaging system has been launched to inform the citizens on the progress of the work course in repairing the defects through the comprehensive call center.