Lesco rejects complaints

Spokesman says most customers don’t understand charges.

LAHORE:

Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) consumers have complained that they are being overcharged and that the power utility is doing little to address the situation, while the company says most people don’t understand their bills.

The Express Tribune spoke to various citizens who complained that they had been sent inflated bills and that Lesco was not correcting them despite repeated trips to their offices.

“Usually my electricity bill is around Rs6,000 a month in the summer,” said Shafqat Ali, a LESCO consumer. “But last month my bill was Rs15,000. I checked the reading on the meter and the bill was totally wrong.

When I approached the complaint centre the office there insisted that the bill was correct and I had to pay it.”

A Lesco official told the Tribune on the condition of anonymity that the company sometimes overcharged consumers deliberately. If the customer protested heavily, or if there were widespread protests, then the practice would stop. He said the overbilling was not only in the shape of added units, but also various surcharges that the customer usually was not aware of, he said. “That is the safest type of overcharging,” he said.

Some consumers complained that after getting their bill corrected, Lesco added the charge again in their next bill. Shahid Aslam said that he managed to get an extra charge removed from his bill after a lot of remonstrating with Lesco officials, but the same charge appeared again on his next bill. ”

Lesco customer services director Khalid Mahmood denied that Lesco was overcharging its customers. He said that many people misunderstood their bills and claimed they had been overcharged when they had not. “When we get a factual complaint of overcharging, with proof, we facilitate the consumer,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2011.