Beating PESCO at its own game?: Residents start their own civil disobedience over inflated bills

Refuse to pay bills with incorrect meter readings after 16-20 hours of daily power outages.

PESHAWAR:

The residents of University Town protested against excessive billing by Peshawar Electric Supply (Pesco) Company on Friday and announced they will not pay their bills.

Gathered at University Road, protesters claimed Pesco was sending inflated bills on the directives of the federal government.  Since the government could not put an end to power outages, they are putting an additional burden on the public, said the angry residents. Both federal and provincial governments have failed to deliver, they added.

Fudging numbers

The Express Tribune has learnt that electricity consumers across the provincial capital have complaints of overbilling by Pesco and are demanding an immediate rectification. Consumers within Peshawar and its outskirts have been feeling the pinch of “inflated bills” since the last few months.

Bills carry incorrect meter readings, as figures on bills and those on meters do not match, alleged customers. To get this corrected is an uphill task, they said, as most of their complaints regarding billing errors remain unresolved or unanswered.

Consumers also complained about the repeated addition of arrears adjusted in the previous month’s bill.

Calling PESCO

Murtaza, from University Town, said people in his area have been dealing with poor customer service by Pesco. Protracted periods without electricity have made matters worse, he added.

In Murtaza’s town council comprising rural areas, people run from pillar to post to get their bills corrected, facing poor service by the billing staff.

“The staff of the sub-divisional offices and revenue offices do not entertain our complaints; they keep suggesting customers pay whatever amount has been mentioned on the bills,” said Amir, another unhappy customer.

Town Council-II Nazim Haji Mohammad Sharif echoed similar grievances. He said his area has four sub-divisional offices of Pesco which supply electricity to rural areas.  According to Sharif, there were many complaints of overbilling in his area.

These residents are not the only ones who have taken to the streets, agitated by outages and sky-high bills.

On Wednesday, Shami Road outside Wapda House was teeming with protesters from Charsadda Road, Pajaggi Road, Aslam Colony and Faqir Kali. Rallies had started from those areas and landed outside Wapda House, turning into a public meeting of sorts.

Speakers there alleged Pesco was carrying out 16 to 20 hours of outages daily and when there was electricity, the voltage was too low.

Keeping in mind the few hours of billable time, protesters complained the charges went up every month.

The same day, the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter Chairman Anees Ashraf addressed PFMA executives and complain about increased tariff in the form of taxes and fuel adjustment.

The increase in their bills will affect the price of flour, said Ashraf, which will impact the public adversely.

FAC for all

Talking to The Express Tribune on Friday, a Pesco official requesting anonymity said the utility company had been adding fuel adjustment charges (FAC) to bills for the last two months, which is why customers saw an increase.

He conceded, however, even Pesco’s senior officials had been receiving inflated bills in some parts of the province. But he denied the problem was pervasive and also refuted accusations about the poor performance of Pesco staff.

In December 2013, the Peshawar High Court had declared the collection of FAC in monthly electricity bills from K-P customers illegal and had ordered the amounts already recovered in bills to be returned.

The chief justice had then questioned the need to recover FAC if hydropower, furnace oil and diesel are used to generate electricity in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2014.