IESCO now ready to buy electricity from consumers

Hopes this will end power shortage

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) has become the first power distribution company to introduce the net metering system, enabling consumers to generate and sell electricity to the company.

Iesco has now acquired 1.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity worth Rs2.5 million from consumers so far.

Water and Power Secretary Younis Dagha inaugurated the net metering system installed by Iesco.

The company has also issued 14 connections of net-metering and was purchasing electricity from consumers at Rs9.25 per unit.  Under this system, the consumers would be able to generate electricity through alternative sources from 1 kilowatt to 1MW.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the net-metering system, Iesco chief executive officer Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar said it was an immediate solution to the current power shortage.

He said the system offered opportunities for commercial and domestic customers to generate electricity through solar panels and sell their extra electricity to Iesco.

“Net-metering technology would not only help improve efficiency of the company but also result in meeting the energy requirement.”

He claimed that Iesco was the first distribution company to introduce the net-metering system in the country. “All customers have a 3-phase connection that could be availed through Iesco’s net metering facility.”

Dagha said permit to work (PTW) system was being introduced in all power distribution companies for the safety of linemen and other technical staff.

He said efforts were being made to replace old poles and wires with new ones to bring efficiency. “The government has already reduced the duty on solar panels to zero and a mechanism was being chalked out with consultation of the Ministry of Science and Technology to import quality solar panels.”

He said mobile meter reading had already been introduced in Iesco to control over-billing.

He claimed that Iesco was one of the most efficient companies that achieved 95% accuracy in mobile meter readying.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2016.

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