Fighting crime: SNGPL should introduce cyber lock, says regulator

Step is part of efforts to tackle gas theft.

ISLAMABAD: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) should introduce a cyber-lock system at its consumer meter station, a step that will facilitate the company in tackling gas theft by industrial and compressed natural gas (CNG) consumers, says the industry regulator in fresh directives.

Another gas distributor, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), has already put in place the cyber lock.

Officials of the regulator – the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) – visited the meter workshop of SNGPL in Lahore and that of SSGC in Karachi and noticed certain discrepancies.

Underlining that there was room for improvement, Ogra told the companies to strictly adhere to its procedure for dealing with cases of gas theft.

Ogra may visit the meter workshops from time to time to assess the suggested improvements. It is laying stress on introducing latest measuring technologies so that the meter system could not be tampered with and theft is controlled.

In a statement, Ogra spokesperson said the regulator was concerned about lack of adherence to the standard operating procedure and required the two companies to handle suspect meters of industrial, commercial and domestic consumers according to the procedure.

Ogra directed the companies to ensure the presence of a complainant with solid evidence at the time of testing a suspect meter. Any test in the absence of the complainant would be considered violation of the procedure, the spokesperson said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2014.

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