Senate panel says K-Electric minted billions of rupees

Says strict action will be taken if any consumer receives inflated bill


Our Correspondent April 15, 2017
Says strict action will be taken if any consumer receives inflated bill. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO/EXPRESS

ISLAMABAD: Referring to power consumers’ complaints, the Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power has said the K-Electric has minted billions of rupees from Karachi by sending incorrect bills.

“Strict action would be taken if any consumer received inflated bill,” the committee’s head Senator Sardar Yaqoob Nasir said on Friday while expressing concern over overbilling.

"Wapda [Water and Power Development Authority] and other power authorities should make sure that inflated bills are only sent with authentic proofs," he said.

K-Electric makes excessive collection of Rs62 billion

The committee also asked the K-Electric to provide within 15 days a record of copper wires that it sold after replacing them with aerial bundle wires.  "We want to know who sold the wire and for how much money," said Nasir.

The K-Electric CEO Tayyab Taren told the committee that the utility had installed aerial bundle wires to discourage power theft.  "Total power requirement of Karachi is 3,000MWs but we have the capacity of producing 2,300MWs," he said.

K-Electric: Govt, not consumers, to benefit from tariff cut

The panel expressed dismay over absence of State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali. Senator Nauman Wazir Khattaq, who belongs to the K-P province, said people’s complaints against power authorities were genuine.

 

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