KARACHI, Sept 11: About 148,000 zero-consumption gas users, who constitute 7.20 per cent of the total SSGC customers, are billed each month as minimum gas users.

Such consumers, sources said, were being billed on minimum rates, and it was being done to bring down the percentage of unaccounted for gas (UFG) consumption.

The Sui Southern Gas Company claims that the UFG was the lowest in the company’s history in 2007-08 which remained 6.59 per cent as compared to 7.53pc in 2006-07.

This, according to a company spokesperson, was achieved through replacement of unregistered gas meters and by curtailing the number of ‘not yet billed’ customers.

According to company officials, the SSGC debited 2,096mmcf (0.5pc of the total sale volume) to 57,305 domestic customers (2.79pc) in 2007-08 in Sindh and Balochistan which translates into about 0.23pc customers per month.

On the one hand, the utility admitted sending minimum bills to about 148,000 zero consumption customers every month, at the same time it maintained that no domestic customer was billed at minimum of 38 mmcf.

This claim has been made despite the fact that annual accounts of the company are yet to be approved by the board of directors of the company.

According to sources, billing nil consumption customers at minimum makes no impact on a customer’s total bill, but it substantially reduces UFG value.

These sources differ with the SSGC on the number of consumers under this head.

They claim that the SSGC has about 30pc minimum and nil consumption domestic customers, with a 50/50 split (15pc minimum consumption and 15pc nil consumption consumers.

Through such billing, the SSGC’s Billing & IT Department allegedly adds on an average 20 units to all the nil computations consumers.

If 300,000 customers are sent 20 units each month, it means that 6,000,000 units of gas is not consumed by consumer, but the SSGC is showing this as consumption to Ogra.

There have been discrepancies in the actual meter reading and the bills sent to consumers because consumer reading is allegedly “manipulated” only in the billing system and it updates meter readings in the system for all the nil consumption consumers directly on the database every month.

Sources claimed that this practice had been going on since May 2007. There are about 5,000 commercial customers in the ‘nil consumption category, but the SSGC allegedly reports their consumption.

According to sources, the SSGC billing is allegedly manipulating commercial and industrial billing by applying wrong pressure and temperature factors which in turn inflate bills and show more consumption.

The Ogra had observed that the petitioner’s computation of UFG for the said year at 6,396mmcf was not correct.

According to Ogra decision of Sept 14, 2007, UFG was 6.65 per cent in 2006-2007, but the utility claimed UFG at 7.06 per cent (22,238mmcf), reflecting an increase of 1.06 per cent.

The Ogra in its recent decision had noted discrepancies in the utility’s Rs750 million IT programme which according to SSGC officials was launched after a “comprehensive study.”

Among other things, Ogra observed that “no serious feasibility study and cost benefit analysis was carried out at the time of commencement of the project” and that the SSGC failed to provide satisfactory justification to support a very large IT related expenditure. On the contrary, it found “evidence of unprofessional and reckless spending.”