PESCO’S OVERCHARGING IRKS POWER CONSUMERS SDO CLAIMS THAT HE HAS BEEN ASKED BY ‘HIGH UPS’TO CHARGE ADDITIONAL UNITS

EXCESSIVE billing by Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) has made the life of the residents of Abbottabad miserable, who are threatening to launch a protest against the company if the practice continues.

The electricity consumers across Abbottabad have issued complaints of overbilling by PESCO and have demanded immediate rectification.

Talking to Pakistan Today, residents of the district complained that they were getting inflated bills of specific units almost every month irrespective of the power consumption, as the meter readers did not bother to take the readings every month. They demanded that high-ups should take a notice of the issue, as they could not afford inflated bills every month.

They said that PESCO was sending over-billings on the directives of the federal government, adding that since the government could not put an end to power outages, it was putting an additional burden on the public.

Malik Israr, a resident of village Chanali, Abbattabad, said that the authority was sending bills sans meter readings; hence figures on bills and those on meters do not match. He said that there was a permanent difference of 2,000 to 3,000 units in the bills from WAPA, which is increasing with each passing month.

“It is very difficult to get the bill corrected every month and no matter how much we complain, the errors remain unresolved and unanswered,” he said. The irate consumer complained that the government was burdening the poor power consumers by adjusting additional arrears in the bill.

He said that when they raised the issue of meter reading before the concerned Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Circle Lora, instead of solving the issue, he complained of inadequate staff.

“The SDO and the high ups are aware of the shortage of the task they are deliberately not resolving the issue,” Israr said, adding that the SCO himself had told him that the high ups had ordered him to add an additional 50 units to every consumer’s bill.

Atta ur Rehman, a resident of Marri, complained that they had run from pillar to post to get their bills corrected and had to face poor service by the billing staff.

“There is a difference of 3,500 units from WAPDA but the PESCO staff does not address the issue and they keep telling us that we will have to pay the amount mentioned on the bill,” he said.

Chaudhry Talat, a resident of Serri, echoed similar grievances and said that there were many complaints of overbilling in his area, but the officials concerned did not bother to address their issues. “Increase in bills will affect the poverty-stricken and inflation-ridden public badly,” he added.

Another resident, Ishtaiq Abbasi, expressed anger over the government’s decision that every electricity consumer of the country will pay an amount for the security

of the multi-billion dollar ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). “The government should ease the worries of the citizens instead of increasing them,” he said, adding that his area remained without power for three to four days and the officials were least bothered.

Shabir Ahmed, a senior PESCO official, refused to comment on the issue when contacted by Pakitan Today for comments.

Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) Chief Executive Officer Anwar Ul Haq Yousafzai could not be reached for his comments despite repeated attempts.