PAC orders end to overbilling ‘honest’ consumers

Power secretary promises 3-year imprisonment for guilty officials

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) directed the Ministry of Power Division and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday to address the issue of overbilling of honest consumers which is done to recover line losses worth a whopping Rs200 billion.

A meeting of the PAC chaired by Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah noted that all power distribution companies (DISCOs) were overbilling consumers to compensate for their losses. The meeting was held to review audit objections of the year 2016-17.



Shah asked Secretary Water and Power and chairman Nepra to reduce technical losses and overcome four percent electricity theft.

Power Division Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokar said that measures are being taken to address the overbilling issue. The officers responsible would be sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for sending unjustified bills to consumers, he assured the committee. PAC was told by the auditors that an amount of Rs28.183 billion in losses was incurred during 2016-17 owing to under-utilisation of power plants.

Moreover, all independent power producers (IPPs) and generation companies (gencos) were supplying electricity to the Central Power Purchase Agency (CPPA) on take or pay basis, the auditors added.

Under take or pay agreement CPPA is bound to purchase all the available electricity from the power plants for idle capacity as well. Auditors noted that despite demand of electricity in the system, IPPs’ and gencos’ power plants were not used to their full capacity.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2017.

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