25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

VEHARI, June 24: A group of consumers protested against the Mepco authority for issuing inflated power bills. Talking to Dawn here on Thursday, the consumers alleged that at least 200 to 500 units more than the meter reading had been added to their bills.

Consumers from various parts of the district were present at the Mepco customer service centre to get their bills rectified. Muhammad Zaheer of Faisal Town claimed that the Mepco officials had inserted over 200 extra units in his residential bill. Aslam of Chak 107/WB alleged that around 160 extra units had been added to his electricity bill.

Similarly, Muhammad Ali of Chak 180/EB Pakhi Morr said that he received a monthly bill with over 150 extra units. Farmer Abdul Rehman said he had been issued the power bill for his tubewell with over 450 extra units.

Dur Muhammad of Mini Market, Vehari, claimed that he had received the bill of Rs4,395 for the month of June. He said that he had visited several times Mepco office for rectification, but to no avail. He alleged that meter readers demanded bribery for rectification.

Another consumer alleged that he had his March bill corrected, but after that he got inflated bills every month. When contacted, the Mepco circle XEN was not available for comments. However, City Area SDO Tahir Ansari denied charges levelled by the consumers.