RAWALPINDI: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has expressed resentment over a Rs5.5 million electricity bill for June and asked the provincial government to take up the matter with the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco).

Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood told Dawn that Wasa had received an inflated bill of Rs5.5m and the tariff had been increased by 65pc for no reason.

“The inflated electricity bill has created a financial crisis for the agency, which is already facing problems in managing the gap between operational expenditures and income,” Mr Mehmood said.

He added that Wasa usually pays Iesco Rs4m per month to run over 424 tubewells, and the Rawal Lake and Khanpur Dam filtration plants.

Despite the increase in the electricity tariff, Wasa has not increased its bills for consumers, Mr Mehmood said, but added that Wasa had no choice but to increase water rates for consumers.

He demanded that the increase be withdrawn or else the agency would default.

The Punjab government provides Wasa with a Rs200m subsidy to keep water charges from increasing, which the agency has asked the government to double to meet its expenses from running tube wells in the city.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2018