LAHORE: Keeping in view the increasing number of consumers and workload, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) has decided in principle to divide its several subdivisions, divisions and circles.

The prime objective of the plan is to deal with consumers’ affairs and governance issues efficiently.

Lesco is the biggest power distribution company of the country in terms of electricity load and revenue. And in terms of number of consumers, it is the second largest company with over 4.2 million consumers after the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco). Mepco deals with over five million registered consumers in a vast area of Multan, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and DG Khan divisions.

“There are total 191 subdivisions having SDOs-led field offices in all Lesco service areas -- Lahore, Kasur, Okara, Nankana Sahib and Sheikhupura. Among these, over 20 subdivisions are dealing with more than 30,000 consumers (each) that are the highest ever while comparing to the subdivisions of all Discos. Therefore, we have decided to at least bifurcate these overloaded subdivisions,” a senior Lesco official told Dawn on Saturday.

He said under the plan, a couple of divisions including Ferozewala would be bifurcated. Some Lesco circles would also be bifurcated or divided. “Under the plan, we also aim to at least bifurcate our construction circle since it faces immense workload leading to delay in accomplishing several pending jobs,” the official added.

He said with bifurcation or division, the company also plans to create various new jobs of SDOs, executive engineers, superintending engineers and chief engineers. Therefore, the company would require additional funds for these purposes including new offices, equipment, furniture, telephone connections and other administrative matters.

“There is a great stress due to workload,” said the official who claimed that the company would soon present it in the meeting of its Board of Directors (BoD) for approval.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017