LAHORE: In light of the widespread power theft allegedly facilitated by officials in areas with numerous small factories, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) has accelerated the ongoing transition of the entire small industry to an advance metering infrastructure (AMI/smart metering) from the traditional metering system.

The company has replaced traditional meters with 3,000 AMIs out of over 20,000 connections installed at small industries stretching from Harbanspura to Babu Sabu along Ring Road, River Ravi, etc.

“We aim to shift the entire small industry, with electricity usage ranging from 5kW to 25kW load, to the AMI in Lahore, as we have been facing losses of up to 7 percent due to power theft in this industry. The majority of such industries exist from Harbanspura Ring Road interchange to Babu Sabu,” Lesco Director (Customer Service) Rai Muhammad Asghar told Dawn on Sunday.

“As the crackdown on power theft is currently underway, we have also expedited the work to transition over 20,000 units to the AMI in phase-1 concurrently.”

According to him, power theft in the small industry sector is not possible without the involvement of officials from the respective subdivision. Lesco’s management is also taking strict disciplinary action against those who aid consumers in stealing electricity. He stated that in phase-2, the company plans to replace an additional 32,000 consumers, including small industry, commercial, and some domestic ones, with the AMI system.

“Complaints related to power theft in areas where meters have already been replaced with the AMI have significantly decreased,” he claimed and added that in the past, there was a plan to replace all Lesco connections with the AMI system under a soft loan of Rs30 billion from the World Bank.

However, it was not executed due to a lack of will on the part of the relevant authorities. A pilot project was launched in 2015/16 in Lahore, during which 18,000 domestic meters were replaced with AMI in areas such as Bhati, Data Darbar, Bilal Ganj, and Angoori Bagh.

“This pilot project was highly successful,” he said, adding that smart metering is the only solution to curb power theft and national exchequer losses.

Lesco, in 2018, had decided to expand the scope of the smart metering project after completion of the pilot project by replacing the meters of 18,000 consumers in various sub-divisions/areas including Faizpur, Rachna Town, Bilal Ganj, Sharaqpur, Angoori Bagh and Taj Bagh. The first-of-its-kind project aims to facilitate the consumers in knowing about meter reading anytime of the day, even on an hourly or a half hourly basis, instead of a month besides enabling the power distribution companies to automatically receive the monthly reading of consumers. It is a unique project since it makes the work of both the consumers and the officials easier. The smart meters automatically transfer the reading data to the control room (main server) on the exact meter reading dates and times, enabling the officials to quickly process and serve the bills to the consumers. The system also allows the company to receive and check reading on a daily basis.

SUSPENDED: The Lesco management suspended from service on Sunday three officials, including a sub-divisional officer (SDO), following death of a Lineman working on a transformer in Dholanwal Sub-Division. The company’s spokesman said Dholanwal Sub-Division SDO Moqaddam Ali, Feeder In Charge Syed Hassan Sardar and Assistant Lineman Rashid Mahmood have been suspended and departmental inquiry is also being initiated against them to ascertain the facts why the lineman died due to electrocution. He said that Lineman Naeem Ahmed was martyred after receiving severe electric shock while working on a transformer in an area of Dholanwal Sub-Division.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2023