Sidelined: NAB stopped from chasing down electricity bill defaulters

DISCOs withdraw powers from NAB jeopardising the recovery of Rs74b in unpaid bills.

LAHORE:

A move to enlist the corruption watchdog’s help to recover electricity bills from top defaulters has backfired after some dignitaries were found involved in power theft. Subsequently, the government and power utilities have stripped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of its recovery powers.

The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) through a notification has withdrawn bill recovery powers from the NAB. Earlier, the water and power ministry and some power utility companies had also barred NAB from recovery.



The recovery of over Rs74 billion from more than 50,000 electricity bill defaulters could halt because powerful lobbies have succeeded in secluding NAB from the recovery drive, sources familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune. The move was expected to improve the liquidity position of the power sector.

The water and power ministry vide its letter dated March 8, 2013 had asked NAB to assist in recovering overdue bills from defaulters amounting to Rs112 billion.

However, as the NAB progressed in its recovery drive, it stepped on the wrong toes and also discovered wrongdoings in distribution companies (Discos), sources said.

NAB found glaring discrepancies such as excess and fake billing, bills issued without meter readings, bills without names of consumers and address of the connections, they said.

The bureau has recovered Rs1.93 billion from 12,908 electricity bill defaulters, despite the problems in the authenticity of bill defaulters’ lists provided to the bureau by Discos, a senior official of NAB familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune said.



He said the figures of 126,000 electricity defaulters and unpaid bills of Rs112 billion provided by the water and power ministry were exaggerated. The lists provided later by the Discos reduced the amount to Rs76.90 billion from Rs112 billion and electricity defaulters to 63,254 defaulters from 126,000.

Now that the country’s apex anti-corruption body has been barred from this recovery, he asked how “could the distribution companies expect to recover this huge amount from defaulters”.

Sources familiar with the matter said the NAB was separated from the recovery drive because the defaulters also included some influential dignitaries, which could have caused embarrassment for the government.

The pressure on the corruption watchdog was such that it could only recover less than Rs2 billion from electricity defaulters.

These defaulters can get clean bill from the respective electric supply companies due to their influence, because now these companies have withdrawn their request from NAB which was actively pursuing this matter, a senior NAB official stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2014.