West Nile Power Distributor, WENRECo Launches 24 Hour Customer Service Call Center
The licenced electric energy generation and distribution company for the West Nile sub-region in Northern Uganda, the West Nile Rural Electrification Company (WENRECo) has launched a 24 hour customer service call center at its Euata Power plant in Arua District.
WENRECo’s 24 hour customer service call center, 0800380380 is a toll-free service using state-of-the-art technology to enable customers to report any electricity complaints in West Nile sub region for expeditious handling.
The WENRECo Call Centre speaks to Section 7 of the Standardized Complaints Handling Guidelines for the Electricity Supply Industry which requires licensed power distributors to allocate adequate resources to enable them to receive, handle, and process customer complaints in an efficient and timely manner.
The initiative comes as the region prepares to get connected to the national power grid by the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL).
Speaking at the launch of the call center, WENRECo General manager, Kenneth Kigumba said the Company’s move to introduce a call center is intended to improve customer service experience.
“It is a clear demonstration from us as the service provider in West Nile region that we are committed to improve the service experience for the customer. We want the customer to enjoy the service, and in case there is any challenges with the service [electricity], they should be able to reach to us in the shortest possible time without any difficulties, so that we can respond accordingly to enable them have the service available,” he said.
Kigumba described the establishment of the call center as a milestone worth celebrating.
WENRECo being a sole power provider in West Nile sub region has registered many complaints such as power blackouts which customers have for long grappled with.
With the absence of call service center, many power consumers have in the past struggled to inform WENRECo to fix any power related challenge.
This, Kigumba, said is now history with the establishment of the call center.
“So the call center is attempting to provide an answer to that. The call center also helps us from a technical side to determine areas which are more prone to problems or to challenges of the network. It has been made toll free specifically to live out any challenges surrounding ability to call. For a customer, it is free in that even when you don’t have the resource [airtime] to use, you will still be able to reach to us and then we can respond to the challenge with the service,” he said.
Caroline Ucanda, a Business woman in Arua District welcomed the call center, saying it will bridge the communication gap that has existed for years due to absence of customer service call center.
“There has been a communication gap and you are now bridging this gap. All these complaints have been coming up because of information gap. There was a whatsapp platform aimed to bridge the gap, but not everybody is on Whatsapp,” she said.
The Deputy Speaker of Arua Central Division, Victor Lomori said, “I am sure it is going to address a lot of issues from the public; the business community, the private sector and everybody who uses power. This is one of the facilities that will increase service delivery.”
The Arua District LC 5 Chairman, Alfred Okwounzi applauded WENRECo for launching the 24 hour toll free customer service call center, saying it is going to be a major contributor to the livelihood of people of West Nile.
“I want to thank WENRECo for bringing us another program of free call line to make sure we call the service center wherever we are. By doing this, you are not only making life very easy for us, you are contributing towards saving money for our families. The money that we would be using to come here [at WENRECo offices], you have saved it for us.”
With the past record of unstable power supply in the region, Okwounzi said he and other West Nile elected leaders will continue to advocate for reliable and efficient power supply in the region so that services go on without any interruption.