Discos overcharging on consumers a criminal activities, Raza Rabani

CEOs of the Discos should be placed on the ECL.

Free electricity facility for power sector officers scrapped, additional pay announced,

Islamabad_PPP Senator Mian Raza Rabbani condemns alleged malpractices including overcharging by power distribution companies (Discos) and calls it a criminal activity.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) investigation revealed widespread overcharging by the companies.

Rabbani demanded that law-enforcement agencies initiate legal action against Discos. He also demanded adjustment of overcharged amounts on user bills and inclusion of Nepra report in the Senate.  He said the Discos overcharging on consumers a criminal activities, Raza Rabani

The report exposed discrepancies in metre readings, billing periods, and defective meters, affecting millions of consumers. K-Electric defends its practices, while Nepra recommends legal action and bill corrections within one billing cycle.

According to the Nepra report, the malpractice shifted 840,000 users from the protected category, with over 52,800 consumers now classified as non-lifeline.

Mepco overcharged 7.99 million consumers, and other companies like Gepco, Fesco, Lesco, Hesco, Sepco, Pesco, Qesco, and Iesco also had billing issues.

KE’s 78,000 consumers in July and 66,000 in August received inaccurate bills. In total, 10.68 million consumers were billed for over 30 days, some even beyond 40 days, and over 0.4 million were billed on defective meters.

NEPRA hikes power tariff by Rs 3.08 per unit,

In another shock to the already overburdened power consumers, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has notified a hike of Rs 3.08 per unit in the price of electricity as part of the fuel adjustment for the month of October 2023. NEPRA issued a notification in this regard on Tuesday.

Meanwhile,

The Ministry of Power Division has issued a notification to terminate the free electricity facility for power sector officers in grades 17 to 21,

The notification was issued with the approval of the Cabinet, following a decision to decommission the facility that was deemed as an unnecessary burden on the national exchequer. Instead of free electricity units, the officers will be given additional pay as an allowance, according to their grades.

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The notification stated that grade 17 officers would be paid Rs.15858, grade 18 officers would be paid Rs 21996, grade 19 officers would be paid Rs 37594, grade 20 officers would be paid Rs 46992 and grade 21 officers would be paid Rs55538 as allowance. The notification further said that the allowance will be effective from July 1, 2023, and will be subject to income tax and other deductions as per the rules.