The National Assembly Standing Committee on Energy has asked the Power Division to pass on directions to all the electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) and K-Electric to ensure billing strictly as per meter reading.
The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Sardar Riaz Mehmood Khan Mazari at the Parliament House, also asked the Power Division to submit a report on how to tackle the issue of loadshedding on electricity feeders by the respective electricity distribution company.
The committee was apprised that K-Electric was forcibly shutting down various feeders in Karachi on the pretext of non-recovery of electricity bills. The member of the committee from Karachi contented that the electricity consumers paying their bills regularly should not suffer because of the electricity kunda mafia and habitual defiant consumers. The committee agreed and said that issue was pervasive and the ministry should look into this and bring a comprehensive report in that regard in the next meeting of the Committee.
The Secretary Power apprised the committee that it was a serious issue but DISCOs had restored to this due to continuous losses, theft, and accumulation of huge arrears. He agreed that the law-abiding citizens were facing the brunt in that regard. He informed that various options were taken into consideration but dropped due to huge financial costs. He assured the committee of bringing up his ministry’s recommendations in the next meeting.
The committee while discussing the issue of overbilling and billing to electricity consumers whose houses were demolished in the floods, ordered compliance as per the announcement by the prime minister.
The committee pended discussion on the PSDP proposals of the ministry with directions for preparations of a presentation with complete details of the demands. The committee also directed all the distribution companies to ensure the completion of projects under SDGs achievement program without further delay for which funds had been already released.
The committee meeting was attended by members of the committee, movers of the matters referred to the committee by the House, Secretary Power Division, and other senior officers of the ministry and distribution companies.
