A retired education department employee died of cardiac arrest at a PESCO office in Charsadda on Wednesday. The incident occurred after an alleged dispute over a Rs50,000 electricity bill, according to the deceased’s family.
The deceased was identified as Noor Hassan, who had visited the PESCO office to complain about the disputed bill.
His son, Noorullah, said his father suffered a heart attack following an argument in the meter reading section.
“My father suffered a heart attack after an argument in the meter reading section,” Noorullah said.
He claimed the electricity meter had recorded “almost no reading”, yet the bill had reached Rs50,000.
The allegation has now prompted the deceased’s family to seek police action against the relevant PESCO meter reader.
Family seeks FIR against meter reader
Noorullah submitted an application to police, seeking registration of a first information report against the concerned meter reader. The meter reader was identified as Fayyaz in the application submitted by the deceased’s son.
Noorullah further alleged that PESCO officials “ran away from the office” after his father suffered a cardiac arrest. However, PESCO officials have rejected the family’s allegations of mistreatment at the office.
The PESCO Sub-Divisional Officer denied that Noor Hassan faced any mistreatment or argument during his visit.
PESCO official disputes family’s account
The PESCO SDO said Hassan had already approached the court regarding the disputed electricity bill. According to the official, the bill was corrected after the court issued its decision on the matter.
The SDO said the revised bill was reduced from Rs50,000 to Rs12,000 following the court’s decision.
Therefore, the two sides have presented different accounts of what happened at the PESCO office.
The family alleges that an argument preceded Hassan’s cardiac arrest, while PESCO denies any mistreatment or dispute.
Incident comes amid overbilling concerns
The death comes only two months after concerns were raised about widespread overbilling by power distribution companies.
The Public Accounts Committee had flagged significant overbilling by DISCOs, with PESCO ranking second after LESCO.
At a PAC subcommittee meeting on July 23, audit officials reported Rs47 billion in overbilling during one month.
According to the officials, LESCO accounted for Rs45 billion of the reported amount. PESCO was responsible for another Rs1.56 billion in overbilling during the period.
The audit findings added to concerns surrounding inaccurate or inflated electricity bills issued to consumers.
Audit officials flag manipulated meter readings
Audit officials told the meeting that 278,649 consumers had received inflated electricity bills. They alleged that lower-level DISCO employees had used discretionary powers to manipulate meter readings.
According to the officials, such manipulation could result in inflated bills for consumers. They further alleged that paying consumers were deliberately overbilled to conceal electricity theft and line losses.
However, refunds were generally issued only after affected consumers formally lodged complaints.
The findings therefore highlighted concerns over billing practices and the difficulties consumers can face when challenging disputed electricity charges.
Meanwhile, the Charsadda incident has brought renewed attention to the consequences of disputes surrounding electricity bills.
The family has sought legal action, while PESCO has rejected allegations that Hassan was mistreated before his death.
