Power companies to cut supply to defaulters

Qamar imposes ban on politically-motivated transfers and postings.

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar on Tuesday directed power distribution companies to disconnect electricity connections of defaulters and imposed a ban on transfers and postings on political basis in these companies to improve the recovery of bills.

Sources told The Express Tribune that chief executive officers (CEOs) of power companies had approached the prime minister, seeking a ban on transfers and postings of employees on political basis, which were hampering the recovery of electricity bills.

Sources said that in a meeting held on Tuesday, with the water and power minister in the chair, three categories of power defaulters were indentified. Some had not paid their  electricity dues for one year, some had not paid for three years and the last category was that of ‘chronic defaulters’.

According to a statement, Qamar asked the power companies to start a recovery drive and disconnect electricity connections of all defaulters. He also sought the compilation of consumers’ classification data within two days.

He also imposed an immediate ban on transfers and postings in the Pakistan Electric Power Company and power distribution companies.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2011.