LAHORE: Taking notice of issuance of without-relief-bills for the month of August to some consumers by the power distribution companies (Discos) in Punjab, the provincial government on Tuesday constituted committees to supervise the billing process to ensure incorporation of Rs14 per unit relief in the bills.

The committees led by the commissioners of Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi have been assigned the task to ensure provision of relief to the eligible consumers in service areas of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco), Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco), Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco), Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) and Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO). IESCO also covers a vast area of Punjab, including Rawalpindi.

Besides ensuring incorporation of relief, the committees will also ensure that the billing is not being made on pro-rata basis and the consumers are being charged as per the actual and clear pictures taken by meter readers.

The committees will also ensure that the consumers are not being issued inflated bills (over billing etc).

Discos have started working on August bills

Punjab Minister for Information Ms Azma Bukhari also confirmed the constitution of committees by the Punjab government (energy department) for the purpose.

Talking to Dawn, she said the bill she shared on social media was a ‘test bill’ issued a few days ago.

“The original bills including the relief from the government are supposed to be shared by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. And it is evident that my CM fulfills the promises she makes,” Ms Bokhari said. Since it is the CM’s initiative, the PML-N’s political rivals were much worried about it, she added.

On the other hand, the Discos have started incorporating Rs14 per unit relief in the bills of the eligible consumers using electricity from 201 to 500 units.

According to a document made available to Dawn, the Lesco has revised all bills issued earlier to over 568,000 consumers in the first five domestic billing batches by incorporating a total relief of over Rs2.34 billion (over 167 million units).

“Our total domestic consumers are divided into 16 batches. And of the total 6 million domestic consumers, 3.5 million have been found eligible for the GOP relief for the month of August,” a spokesman for Lesco told Dawn.

Meanwhile, CM Maryam also shared various bills having Rs14 per unit relief on social media and said: “As per desire and instruction of Nawaz Sharif, the people of Punjab have started receiving relief in bills”.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2024