SWABI, Aug 21: The Peshawar Electric Supply Company is accused of forcing consumers to get the faulty transformers repaired on their own at private workshops.

People complain that if Pesco ever repairs a faulty transformer it makes the consumers to pay the charges.

This correspondent also saw Pesco staff demanding money from traders at the main bazaar of Topi tehsil on Sunday to repair a faulty transformer.

But the traders plainly refused to oblige saying they had decided not to pay for the repair of the faulty transformer as they had been paying electricity bills regularly and that it was the responsibility of the Pesco to repair the transformers.

The traders said the 100KV transformer of Topi general bus stand area remained out-of-order for one week due to negligence of the Pesco staff.

The residents of Shagai area of Tordher region also suffered the same fate as the power supply to the locality remained suspended for a month and during this period the locals paid a number of visits to the Pesco office, demanding repair of the 50KV transformer but to no avail.

Power consumers in Dagi region told this correspondent their electricity transformer went out of operation last week due to overload, which was yet to be repaired.

Residents of Naro Banda said they had to pay for repair of 50KV transformer. They said last year the transformer developed faults three times and each time they collected money to get it repaired.

When contacted an official of the Pesco said consumers wanted repair of the transformers immediately after the faults surfaced, which was not possible for the company. He said usually repair of an out-of-order transformer took 15 to 60 days, adding, consumers could not wait for their turn and repaired their transformers privately.