Domestic consumers in Chennai city want the Electricity Department to revive the Fuse-Off Call (FOC) centres, which used to repair and restore power supply disruptions seamlessly.

The FOCs were closed down five years ago, and replaced with a centralised consumer redress centre called Minnagam, which operates from the headquarters of the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation on Anna Salai.

The domestic consumers point out that response to a power disruption was faster under the FOCs that functioned under a decentralised set-up, as against the current centralised set-up of Minnagam.

The FOC centre — set up for three to four section offices of the Electricity Department — functioned round-the-clock, with telephone operators, linemen, and wiremen working in shifts. The maintenance staff working for the FOCs had a well-defined role — to restore power disruptions only in those localities coming under the section offices, as they had an thorough knowledge of the area.

A centralised redress system, along with the Chairman’s office numbers, had also been functioning. However, after the DMK came to power, the Minnagam centre was launched, where the complaint redress system was centralised and given a common number.

The South Chennai region, which includes Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts, has 236 section offices, while a total of 173 section officesare set up in the North Chennai region, which includes Tiruvallur district.

Consumer activist T. Sadagopan said the FOCs played an efficient role in restoring power supply during disruptions. The FOC staff could easily identify the location by simply being told the street name, unlike the present system where the consumer number has to be given to the telephone operator at Minnagam, who has to identify the section offices and inform the official concerned, who then deputes a staff to address the issue.

A retired official of the Operation and Maintenance section of the Electricity Department said there were many vacancies at the FOC offices and due to this, the local officials, who were already overburdened with providing new power connections and other development works, had to bear the brunt of this workload.

A senior official of the TNPDCL pointed out that the centralised grievance redress system of Minnagam only resulted in delaying restoration of power supply. He said that based on the feedback from officials, they would look into reviving the FOC centres.