PESCO officials charged 40m extra units: NAB

Over 25,000 consumers in Hazara division made to pay for theft of power utility men

PESHAWAR: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has initiated an inquiry in a mega scam of billing 40 million extra units to 25,000 consumers which amounts to illegally collecting Rs240 million from them to conceal the misdeeds of Pesco officials of Hazara division.

Talking to The Express Tribune NAB spokeswoman said that they had so far investigated the records of the past four years and have discovered that around 40 million extra units had been added to the bills of the consumers in order to cover the line losses of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) in the region.

“The Pesco officials were apparently stealing power or helping in its and theft and to cover it they distributed these units equally on all consumers in the two circles, forcing them to pay for the missing electricity,” she said.



The Peshawar bureau of NAB taking cognisance of the complaints of authorised an inquiry, which revealed that the officials of Pesco in Hazara I and Hazara II circles, in connivance with each other, charged fake, fabricated and exaggerated units into official records against the consumers conversely to the original meter reading.

These fraudulent figures were used by officials to conceal their misdeeds and theft caused with their connivance, resultantly putting extra financial burden on general public without any justification.

Further, upon receiving complaints from consumers, the corrupt officials illegally issued Meter Change Orders (MCOs) to consumers in Pesco record, though in reality no meter was changed on ground.



During inquiry it was also revealed that same modus operandi has been adopted by the officials of Pesco  in other three circles of Hazara. NAB would initiate inquiry against them soon, she said.

NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal, since his assuming the charge, has stressed upon the anti-corruption body to improve accountability mechanism so that people may get relief from corrupt elements.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2017.