KARACHI, Aug 2: The continuing rains have not only exposed the poor performance of the KESC once again, but its weak system also poses threat to citizens’ life and property as hundreds of recently installed local power meters caught fire in different areas of the city during the past three days.During a survey conducted by Online, power consumers said that frequent power failures, wire-snapping and bursting of PMTs have become a routine affair in the metropolis but during the current monsoon rains, they had to experience the new problem of meters catching fire.

It may be mentioned here that about three years back, the KESC had introduced new meters claiming that the old ones were not charging tariff correctly. It had also decided to install or shift meters outside the consumers’ houses to curb the practice of tampering with the gadget.

According to a KESC official, the corporation has installed 500,000 new meters, all outside the houses of consumers, since then whereas another 1.5 million meters were planned to be installed in near future.

Various citizens complained that the KESC teams visiting their houses accused them of having tampered with old meters and eventually forced them to sign the prescribed forms pertaining to a confession to the offence.

“The teams would deliberately visit the houses during day timings taking advantage of the absence of most male family members. A majority of women at home would not or could not read and understand contents of the form, a resident of North Nazimabad Block-S, said. The KESC then slaps heavy fines on such consumers on the charge of power-theft, he maintained.

Citizens also complained that the new meters were much faster than the old ones, charging 50 to 70 per cent higher tariff than actual.

Sources said the KESC people had fixed the new meters on the outer walls of every house without caring that there appeared no shed or shelter to protect them from rain, sunlight and other such things.

The complaints of meters catching were have been reported from North Nazimabad, F B Area, Clifton, Defence, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Malir, Landhi, and New Karachi.

“We had to run to safety as the meter caught fire with a big bang soon after it started raining on Sunday (June 30),” a resident of Khayaban-i-Sehar, Phase-7, DHA, said.

Mrs Malik, a dweller of North Nazimabad, Block-S, said that the burnt electricity meter on the outer wall of her house had not been replaced yet despite several complaints having been lodged with the KESC. She said that at least 10 such incidents had already taken place in this area alone since Sunday.

Sources said that the new KESC management was pursuing the policy of its predecessors with regard to the meters and tariff but none of them had bothered to even consider safety measures against mishaps.—Online