Sherab Lhamo

There have been complaints from tenants about electricity issues. Some tenants move out without paying their electricity bills, leaving behind unsettled dues. Because of this, BPC has been cutting off electricity supply for current tenants.

To fix these problems, Bhutan Power Corporation(BPC) has been changing its approach from focusing mainly on metre to customer centric since 2023. They’ve been gradually rolling out this change across all 20 districts.

The Customer-Centric System (CCS) helps BPC to recognise customers and differentiate between property owners and tenants.

This system improves accountability and efficiency when people move in or out of properties.

BPC has also been making the overall customer experience smoother by linking up with other systems behind the scenes for better service and communication.

BPC, through this system, can interact with customers more effectively and offer improved services.

Moreover, the billing will now be under the tenant’s name, and regardless of where they move, they’ll keep the same consumer number.

This setup helps BPC to clearly distinguish between tenants and property owners, making it easier to track who is using BPC’s services.

A BPC official said that BPC currently relies solely on metre-based systems, which means there are limitations in validating customer information.

This can result in incorrect details, like failing to distinguish between property owners and tenants.

Consequently, bills are issued based on metre readings rather than accurately assigning them to the individuals responsible for using the electricity.

He said that BPC has been facing difficulties in finding customers because of incomplete customer data, especially when it comes to knowing where customers live and how to contact them.

Sometimes, property owners live far away or even in other countries, and they might not know when tenants move in or out of their property said the BPC official.

This lack of information makes it hard for BPC to collect revenue, especially when tenants leave without paying their electricity bills.

The customer-centric approach aims to tackle these challenges by making both property owners and tenants responsible for electricity connections and payments.

This means regardless of whether you own or rent a property, you’re accountable for the electricity usage and bills associated with it.

BPC officials said that they’re encountering difficulties in convincing customers to sign up for the Customer Centricity system, mainly due to a lack of digital literacy among the population.

Despite multiple notifications and advertisements on various social media platforms, customers are still hesitant to join or adopt the system.

BPC has been going door-to-door to convince the customers by highlighting the importance of switching to this customer-focused system for better electricity supply and access to other services provided by BPC in the future.

BPC currently has approximately 35,000 customers from various sectors like offices, agencies, residential areas, and religious institutions, such as lhakhang, who have already moved to the customer-centric model nationwide, according the official.