The power supply of four housing projects in Bahria Town Lahore has been cut over the non-payment of bills amounting to more than Rs682 million, it emerged on Friday.

The move has prompted an outcry from residents, who have planned a demonstration in front of the Bahria Town offices after Friday prayers.

Muhammad Ramzan Butt, the chief executive officer of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco), said that Bahria Town had defaulted on its payments.

“They have failed to pay a total of Rs682m on four bulk power supply connections,” he told Dawn.

“We will not restore the power supply till the bills have been paid,” he asserted.

According to him, the initial deadline for paying the bills was November 21, which was then extended to November 23 at the request of the Bahria Town officials. However, they continued to file for extensions till November 26 (Wednesday), he said.

The Lesco official said that the last deadline was November 27. “Instead of paying the bills, they have reportedly approached the court,” he said.

“However, before the court could intervene, we disconnected the power supply to four projects,” Butt said.

According to the bills — copies of which are available with Dawn — Bahria Town (M/S Bahria Town PVT LTD) has to pay over Rs530m, followed by Bahria Orchard, which has to pay Rs137m to the power utility.

Meanwhile, Bahria Education City has to pay Rs5.465m, while another Bahria town project, by M/S Kingrete Associates, has to pay Rs2.70m.

“As soon as they clear the outstanding dues, our teams will immediately restore the power supply,” the Lesco CEO pledged.

On the other hand, residents criticised the Bahria Town administration as well as Lesco for not taking action to restore the power supply.

“Since yesterday evening up until now, we are functioning without electricity,” Fayyaz Ahmad, a resident of Bahria Town, told Dawn.

“The food in the refrigerator has also gone bad,” he said.

“It seems as if we are living in a jungle — no electricity and no warm water to take a bath either,” he said, adding he had decided to temporarily move to his brother’s house in light of the current situation.

In 2024, Lesco had disconnected the power supply to Bahria Town over the non-payment of more than Rs762m in electricity bills.

The real estate company has come under scrutiny before as well for power issues. In June last year, scores of residents in Bahria Town’s operations in Islamabad petitioned against overbilling and deductions by the management on electricity generated through solar power.