Realising the importance of maintaining transformers well to ensure the smooth supply of electricity, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company has decided to tackle the problem on the ground, literally. In about a fortnight from now, linemen will be made responsible for maintaining transformers, according to Bescom Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey.
Presently, there is a whole hierarchy of Bescom employees who have been entrusted with the job — starting from the lineman to the supervisor, assistant executive engineer and the executive engineer.
This will be part of the increased emphasis being laid on maintenance by the power utility, which has so far been spending less than 1 per cent of its budget on it. With the monsoon bringing a whole new set of problems for power supply, the other options before Bescom, such as underground cabling, are far too expensive. “We are going to increase our maintenance budget to at least 2 or 3 per cent as it makes sense economically,” Mr. Pandey said.
Explaining how the new system is going to work, he said: “Looking at the ratio of linemen to transformers, each lineman may be made responsible for about 12 transformers. This would add up to every lineman attending to each transformer every six months. We are also considering incentivising the linemen if the casualties come down.”
The linemen will be required to ensure the ideal level of oil, protection of the transformers on both the low and high tension sides, among others, Mr. Pandey said, by which leakages and backflow of power and other technical problems can be contained.
Among the other measures Bescom is taking to counter the problems faced during the rains, including disruption of power, electrical poles being uprooted, etc, is by increasing the manpower of the emergency teams by 15 per cent.
