Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that overbilling is not acceptable, action will be taken against the officers involved in overbilling.
In a review meeting on the performance of electricity distribution companies chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the issues of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) and Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) were discussed. The participants of the meeting were given a detailed briefing on the performance of LESCO, PESCO and FESCO.
It was informed in the briefing that in the financial year 2024-25, LESCO’s recovery till November was 96.82 percent, PESCO’s recovery was 87.98 percent and FESCO’s recovery was 97.57 percent. In the financial year 2024-25, LESCO’s recovery was 13.04 percent, PESCO’s 33 percent and FESCO’s 6.01 percent in terms of transmission and distribution losses till November.
The briefing stated that LESCO has to install 223365 three-phase smart meters, out of which 49470 have been installed, PESCO has to install 152559 smart meters, out of which 51173 have been installed and FESCO has to install 192311 smart meters, out of which 11276 have been installed.
LESCO, PESCO and FESCO customers have access to call centers, emails, websites, interactive voice response, NEPRA mobile and web services for grievance redressal and other services. It was said that free access to helpline 118 is being ensured from all mobile phone operators for any kind of grievances regarding electricity supply.
Till November of this fiscal year, LESCO has redressed 99.2 percent, PESCO 99.9 percent and FESCO 99.7 percent of grievances.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister said that the installation of smart meters should be completed soon so that transparency can be brought in the billing system, concrete steps should be taken to prevent electricity theft. The Prime Minister expressed concern over the slowness in the appointment of CEOs of electricity distribution companies and said that the process of appointing Chief Executive Officers of electricity distribution companies should be completed soon.
The Prime Minister said that the recruitment of manpower in electricity distribution companies should be done on merit, no lapse in transparency in the recruitment process will be tolerated, he said that all resources should be utilized to achieve the target of NEPRA.
