NewsApril 15 , 2017
K-Electric asked not to send excess bills to consumers without power theft proof
KARACHI: While expressing serious dissatisfaction over the working of K-Electric, the Standing Committee of Senate on Water and Power has asked the privatised power utility of the city that in future it should not send electricity bills to any consumer having surplus amount as a case of penalty without attaching with it concrete proof of power theft by the supposed guilty consumer.The Standing Committee of the Senate met here at a hotel on Friday with Senator Mohammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir in the chair. Senior management of K-Electric, led by its Chief Executive Officer Tayyab Tareen, also attended the meeting.
Members of the standing committee belonging to Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also protested as State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali didn’t turn up to attend the meeting. The concerned senators also protested that federal authorities were meting out step motherly treatment to Sindh as far as electricity issues of the province were concerned as people of the province had to endure power loadshedding of up to 20 hours a day.
The concerned members of the standing committee alleged that K-Electric had been committing overbilling with regard to power consumers in the city as one of the vicious tactics to mint money from residents of Karachi. Chairman of the standing committee maintained that rest of the power distribution companies in the country had also been bound that they should not send any power bill having excess amount as a penalty of electricity theft without furnishing evidences of power pilferage, including photographs to accused consumer.
The standing committee also asked the management of the privatised power utility to furnish to it within next 15 days the details of the supposed incidents of copper wire removed from electricity distribution systems of the city and later sold out in the market. The details of the alleged incident sought by the standing committee would include the cost of the copper wire removed from electricity distribution systems and names of the vendors of the power utility to which they had been sold out.
The management of K-Electric explained to members of the standing committee methods adopted by it to stop pilferage of electricity and also the situation of power shortfall being faced by the privatised K-Electric in meeting electricity demands of the city. The standing committee was informed that K-Electric could generate 2,300 Megawatts electricity from its own resources.
The chairman of the standing committee said on the occasion that privatised power utility should better come up with a scientific plan to prevent pilferage of electricity in the city instead of minting money from unsuspecting power consumers.
A member of the committee Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak of PTI suggested that services of a third party should be engaged for testing of electricity meters to probe the allegations of power theft in a fair and independent manner while the K-Electric should also change its auditor after every three years.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk
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