LAHORE, March 8: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) plans to invest Rs21.5 billion in system upgradation and Energy Loss Reduction (ELR) plan during the next five years.

Talking to Dawn, Lesco chief Akram Arain on Tuesday claimed that the company would spend Rs16 billion on system upgradation and Rs5.5 billion on ELR during the next five years.

"Though the purpose of both programmes overlaps, which is to improve distribution system and customer service, but they have been kept separate to achieve specific goals."

Under the system upgradation plan, he said, the company would replace overloaded transformers and lines and reduce the length of distribution lines. All thin lines would be made thick so that they could sustain more load without contributing to distribution losses, he said.

Under the Rs5.5 billion ELR plan, he said, all possible steps would be taken to reduce energy losses. They included replacement of transformers and thickness of lines. Mr Arain said the company would also replace traditional single and three-phase meters with new automatic meters. These new metres were part of a bigger system to end manual intervention in reading system.

He said the new system would include meters with chips which automatically transmit reading to a computer system, from where, it would go to the billing system. "The company plans to install 6,000 such meters in the first phase and has issued tenders for the purchase."

The Lesco chief said the supply company would install such meters and allied system in one feeder area as a pilot project. If successful, the system would be replicated in other areas.

Talking about its benefits, Mr Arain said the system would not only be able to unearth power theft but also end manual mistakes and lapses in the billing system. He claimed that 99 per cent theft cases involved tempering with meters which would end with the new system while complaints of manual mishandling would also come to an end.