Tough measures: PESCO determined to recover lost money

PESHAWAR:

Incurring losses of up to Rs4 billion a month, the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) took strict measures against defaulters and those involved in power theft.

As Pesco’s campaign for recovering losses and ending power theft entered its third week, the company took disciplinary action by sending a Rs30,000 electricity bill to the Dabgari Sub-Division Officer (SDO) on Wednesday after discovering an illegaly tampered power meter.

“Similarly in Wazir Bagh, Rs200,000 were recovered from defaulters while tampered meters were replaced”, said Pesco spokesperson Shaukat Afzal. He added that in the Peshawar circle, four distribution transformers were removed after Pesco detected that they were being used for power theft, causing losses of up to Rs30,000 daily.

In the Gulberg Peshawar plaza, a direct power connection not routed through an electricity meter was found. An FIR was lodged with the police and Rs147,000 were debited to the customer’s account.

Three other commercial plazas with direct connections were discovered in the Bannu circle, with assessed bills running over hundreds of thousands of rupees. FIR’s were also lodged against the owners of the plazas.

Pesco’s drive against defaulters and power thieves have begun in the six circles of Peshawar, Khyber, Mardan, Hazara, Swat and Bannu.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2012.