ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: The federal government on Thursday directed all electricity distribution companies (Discos) of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to reduce their line losses by 10 per cent
by the end of current fiscal year and formulate a uniform policy for new connections to the consumers.
The World Bank, which is assisting the government in restructuring of Wapda and power sector reforms, has been asking the government to fix time bound loss reduction targets for the Discos for their successful privatization.
Presiding over a meeting of the chief executives of all Discos (Iesco, Lesco, Pesco, Qesco, Gepco, Fesco, Mesco, Tesco and Hesco), including Wapda chairman, Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi expressed serious concern over the performance of Peshawar Electric Supply Company for its record high system losses of about 40 per cent, official sources told Dawn.
The meeting decided to assess line loss reduction on the basis of losses reported by the companies at the end of June 2004, so that the companies which had under-reported their losses, if any, last year were exposed themselves, said the sources.
The meeting was convened to review the performance, their loss situation, billing, power distribution and other related issues. The minister said the head of the distribution company would be held responsible in case of any major breakdown, suspension in the supply system or any other inefficiency in his jurisdiction.
He also directed all the CEOs to ensure issuance of correct electricity bills with exact meter reading every month. There should be no delay in the issuance of bills.
The minister said he was receiving a large number of complaints of excess billings, late bill distributions, etc., which should be resolved at the earliest. He said the XEN of the concerned circle would be immediately suspended on the complaint of excess billing and delay in the issuance of bill and ultimately would lose the job if found guilty after inquiry report within seven days.
He asked to set up complaint cells in all the Discos coordinating with the minister's complaint cell to resolve the consumer problems. The companies should prove themselves as public friendly organizations and should differentiate between good and bad customers and provide facilities, packages and give respect to the good consumers who pay their dues regularly.
Mr Jatoi asked them to deal with the electricity theft with iron hands and also build confidence among the general public. He directed the chief executives to reduce load shedding, improve efficiency and maintain cables and grid stations, erect proper poles and change attitude to facilitate the consumers.
The Discos were also asked to start media motivation campaign to control electricity theft and line losses to educate the people on their rights and the facilities being provided to the consumers.
Mr Jatoi further directed the companies to ensure that all the material like meters, cables and poles were available with the concerned divisional offices for provision of connections.
