LAHORE, July 13: Barely three days after awarding a contract for 333,000 single-phase electricity meters to M/s Escorts, the Water and Power Development Authority has found technical faults with the meters already supplied by the company.

In a letter (CEMI/PA/196-211), issued on July 8, the chief engineer (material inspection) pointed out specific technical problems with the meters and told the company to improve its manufacturing standards.

The company’s product was declared fit on July 5, and the authority had placed an order for 333,000 meters. It was awarded a contract for 400,000 meters in the beginning of 2003.

“While looking into the reported malfunctioning of Escorts single-phase energy metres supplied to Multan Electric Supply Company (MepCo), the committee was constituted under the authority’s instruction dated 24-06-03 and reinforced with engineers nominated by MepCo, has submitted recommendations to improve quality of meters by the manufacturer,” says the letter.

The chief engineer (MI) said that he had issued specific instructions in this regard.

The letter asked the office of the chief engineer (distribution engineering) to arrange careful examination of the improvements effected by the manufacturer in the light of above- mentioned recommendations and last two must be incorporated in specifications.

The company had been declared technically fit by the Wapda’s Evaluation Committee, ignoring the fact that some faults had already been reported and a team was already investigating the matter.

A Wapda official claimed that no technical hiccups had been reported from other companies. It was largely because they are the manufacturers and have over 80 per cent local manufacturing capability. But this company is particularly vulnerable to such problems because it imports most parts of the product. Wapda’s repeated requests to validate the product from the principal manufacturers have fallen on deaf ears and the authority is having problems with smooth functioning of the meters.

Another Wapda official said that though these were not major faults but the authority should have cleared them before placing the fresh order. But the committee’s request to include some of its recommendations in the specifications is a serious matter and bespeaks of company’s technical failure.