LAHORE: The Lahore Electric Supply Company’s ongoing actions related to disconnection of electricity on account of the consumers’ failure to pay bill for one month is unlawful, as it is a clear violation of the Consumer Service Manual-2025 (revised) issued by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).

On the other hand, the action related to without-notice disconnection of power supply of any consumer, who fails to pay bills for consecutively second month is also unlawful under the manual, Dawn has learnt.

“Lesco is perhaps the only distribution company that is flouting the Nepra’s consumer service manual that had been revised around eight months ago. They (the Lesco field teams) continue to disconnect power supply of the consumers whose last date for payment of bills even for one/current month is just passed. This is simply illegal, as none of the Discos is doing such ‘harassment’ to recover the bills from the consumers,” an insider deplored while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

“Nepra should take action against Lesco for committing this illegality,” he said, terming the Lesco’s action of without-notice disconnection of power supply to any consumer is also a violation of the manual.

Nepra manual provides for seven-day notice before disconnection; supply can only be cut after second-month unpaid bill

In recent days, the issue was highlighted in the media as well as taken up by the office of Lahore commissioner when someone approached it to take action against Lesco officials for ‘harassing’ the consumers on the pretext of ‘recovery’.

According to consumer service manual, the Discos can sever the electricity connection if the consumer is a defaulter in making payments of the bill or involved in theft of electricity, illegal reconnection of supply, extension of load beyond the sanctioned one, misuse of tariff for using electricity, non-submission of fresh bank guarantee within 30 days of expiry of the previous bank guarantee etc.

As per section 8.2.1 of the manual, the consumer is bound to pay the electricity bill within the due date as specified in the bill or with the late payment surcharge if paid after the due date.

However, the connection cannot be disconnected if any consumer fails to deposit the current month bill provided that there are no outstanding dues.

“No connection must be disconnected on non-payment of the previous month’s bill. The Disco shall issue a notice of seven days along with the second month bill to the defaulting consumer to either clear the outstanding dues with the second month bill or face disconnection. The notice may also be printed/stamped on the electricity bill,” reads the manual.

Under the manual, since no connection shall be disconnected on default of one month bill, the power supply can only be disconnected in case of non-receipt of payment and upon expiry of the due date given on the second month bill. In such cases, the disconnected supply shall not be reconnected or restored until full payment along with late payment surcharge or payment in installments (allowed by the Disco).

It further reveals that if the consumer fails to pay the bills of third consecutive month along with arrears of previous two months within due date given on the third month bill, the Disco is liable to issue Equipment Removal Order (ERO) and remove the metering installation/material and shall allot permanently disconnected code. The electric supply, in such cases can only be restored upon payment of all outstanding dues (in full or installments) and completion of other codal formalities given in reconnection policy. “However, if Disco does not remove the equipment for its own ease, the consumer shall not be held responsible for theft of electricity or material, if any,” it explains.

It is worth mentioning that Lesco CEO Ramzan Butt in a telephonic conversation with Dawn on July 11 had said that the consumers who failed to pay a single month’s bill were seen as defaulters. According to him, previously those consumers who failed to pay bills consecutively for two months had their power cut. However, later it was decided to also consider those consumers as defaulters who had not paid a single month’s bill. When asked about the allegations of harassment by Lesco teams, he had dispelled the impression, stating that largely there were no such complaints.

When contacted again on Saturday for comments on the consumer service manual, the Lesco CEO was not available for comments.

However, a Lesco spokesperson in a message to this reporter said: “The Lesco strictly follows Nepra regulations. Our teams simply inform consumers that bills must be cleared to avoid any disruption in service.” “We kindly request consumers to pay your bill timely to ensure continuous power supply,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2026