LAHORE: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) plans to introduce a complaint management system through which consumers at large can lodge complaints about any issue related to the company.

Under the system, the officers/officials concerned would be liable to respond to customers quickly, failing which they would be held accountable.

The new online complaint system will be linked with the enterprise resource planning (ERP), which is currently being developed to streamline the core business processes related to human resource, finance, procurement, manufacturing, sales, supply chain, and sales, Dawn has learnt.

“We have set our vision as ‘eliminate corruption’ for which we will do whatever we can,” claimed Lesco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramzan Butt while speaking to Dawn on Tuesday.

“For this, the online complaint filing system will be available to the public by June this year.”

A model project (e-complaint system) in 10 sub-divisions of Lesco in Lahore (including various parts of DHA) has also been introduced as a pilot project,” he added.

According to him, after receipt of an online complaint (through an application), particularly related to electricity, the system will refer the job to officials who will receive them on their mobile phones. The system will track officials’ presence and location. Once the complaint is resolved, the official will feed this information into the system, which will automatically send a reply to the consumer.

About corruption, he said consumers can also file complaints related to any officer/official. Such complaints would be handled very carefully and if anyone is found guilty, Lesco would take stern action in the shortest possible time.

“We can judge this well when someone (complainants) starts visiting the Lesco higher-ups about their complaints, and we can assume something is wrong on the part of officers/officials,” he explained.

The CEO said power theft and overbilling are linked with each other and this must be controlled with full force. In response to another question, he said the transfer of Lesco’s material management department to the ERP system has greatly helped in controlling corruption.

“In our material department, corruption is over now due to the ERP system. Anyone, including secret agencies, can check,” he claimed, adding that the entire Lesco would be shifted to the ERP system by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.

An official source in the company said the complaint system, namely e-operation, would also have a new feature titled “Apna Meter, Apni Reading” that will enable consumers to upload a picture of their meter and reading.

“By doing so, no one will dare to overbill the consumers,” he said.

PROFITEERING: The district administration intensified its crackdown on profiteers and price manipulators across the city, demonstrating commitment to protecting consumer rights.

According to a spokesman, the city admin teams imposed fines totaling Rs200,000 on 30 violations, registered six cases, made 12 arrests and sealed four shops on Tuesday.

INSPECTION: A team of the Pakistan Railways (Lahore Division) on Tuesday inspected the Lahore-Narowal railway track in a bid to ensure a safe train operation, according to a spokesman.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2025