Korangi residents bogged down in billing issues

Power utility official terms overbilling a ‘myth’

KARACHI: Residents of Korangi are being forced to pay more than their share of electricity bills but the electricity utility claims 'overbilling' is a myth.

People complain that K-Electric (KE) dispatches inflated bills to customers, which puts them under immense financial and emotional stress as they first have to run pillar-to-post to get the anomaly fixed, and in case of KE's refusal, pay the price.

Nasreen Bano, a resident of Gulshan-e-Millat, Korangi, said KE had been charging Rs2,500 as fixed monthly payment for every house in her locality to use a kunda (hook) since meters have not been installed there. "Last month, they issued a bill of Rs5,000. However, we paid Rs2,500," Bano told The Express Tribune outside the power's company's Integrated Business Centre in Korangi. "This month K-Electric has not issued us a bill, which is why I am here. I have also heard that they have increased the monthly amount to Rs2,700 per house now," she added.

Another resident, Tahir Iqbal, explained that KE has started issuing a bill of Rs1,500 for the past two months at his under-construction house in Karachi Development Authority Scheme, Korangi. "I had applied for a residential meter a few months ago but KE, without providing electricity connection or installing any meter, started issuing bills," he said.

He deplored that with no meter installed, KE officials are just assuming that he is using a kunda and thus charging him for it. "They don't even realise that there is no electricity pole in the vicinity of my under-construction house. So where could I be stealing electricity from?" He was unsure whether his second visit to the centre would help resolve the problem.

Narrating her worries, Shaheena, who was at the complaint centre with her daughter, said, "KE issued us a bill of Rs105,000 around three months ago, which was very high compared to our previous bills," adding that it seems they have mixed a household's bill with that of a workshop. Nevertheless, Shaheena's husband decided to pay Rs10,000 after they [KE] agreed for the amount to be adjusted later in installments. "However, our monthly bill was not reduced as KE has again dispatched a bill of Rs117,000," she said, lamenting that her husband, with his monthly salary of Rs13,000, is already finding it near impossible to repay the inflated bill.

Tahir Ali, a resident of Ibrahim Hyderi, owns a saw machine factory and receives a monthly bill of around Rs15,000 to Rs17,000. "When my machine had a mechanical fault recently, I closed the factory for a month and a half. The next month I received a bill of Rs8,000, even though hardly any electrical units were used," he claimed. Fearing that his electricity will be cut off if he does not pay, Ali said he will make the 'unjustified' payment as he is sure arguing with customer service representatives will not fix his problem.

Meanwhile, KE's media manager Taha Siddiqui said "Overbilling is a myth and a [common] misconception among many residents of Karachi."

However, he said customers are free to register their complaints with them or respective offices like those of the electrical inspector, federal ombudsman or the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority. He explained that human error and mechanical faults can happen any time, but claimed that a majority of complaints related to irregular and overbilling are received from areas with 'high' to 'very high' losses, and where recovery is low.

Responding to the KE official's comment, economist Dr Kaiser Bengali said, "A phenomenon [overbilling] repeated with a diverse number of people cannot be a myth. I know of a number of genuine cases [of overbilling] and I myself am a victim of this practice of KE."

Explaining the power utility's modus operandi, he alleged that "First, KE overcharges its consumers, terming it arrears, and then adjusts the billing amount which means consumers are giving a loan to KE and that too interest free. The savings from this 'loan' result into the company's profit."

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2016.