ISLAMABAD: The K-Electric has admitted to overbilling its consumers up to 34 days. K-Electric admitted this billing cheating in a hearing at the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) today.
Meanwhile, Geo.tv claimed that it reviewed bills from Karachi’s K-Electric (KE), Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco), Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco), and the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) and disclosed over-billing to consumers.
A number of power companies had billed their customers for more than the allowed 31 days in one month on more than one occasion since January 2021.
It was also confirmed in a probe conducted by the Power Information Technology Company (PITC).
National Electric Power and Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Chairman Tauseef H. Farooqui today chaired a hearing regarding the issue during which a KE official accepted that the utility overbilled its consumers.
KE Chief Financial Officer Muhammad Aamir Ghaziani told the officials that the overbilled amount is adjusted in the next month’s bill.
To this, NEPRA Sindh member Rafique Ahmad Shaikh said the authority does not agree with the KE official’s statement and added, “whatever the issues are, consumers should not be treated unfairly.”
The KE official said that the overbilling was not done deliberately.
“K-Electric overbilled up to 34 days,” the KE official told the hearing when Nepra vice-chairman asked about the duration the KE had overbilled its consumers.
During the hearing, NEPRA officials briefed that the authority received 64 applications from all over the country, out of which 13 were against the KE. “Mepco has accepted that they overbilled,” they said.
Meanwhile, a consumer of Rahim Yar Khan Energy Limited (RYKEL) complained of overbilling of 52 days.
Terming overbilling a serious issue, NEPRA Vice Chairman Rafique Ahmed Shaikh said that it seemed meter readers of power distribution companies were also creating problems for the consumers.
“Those meter readers found guilty of reporting data for excessive days will be dismissed from service,” warned the NEPRA officer.
He maintained that NEPRA will issue a detailed verdict in this regard. NEPRA will launch an inquiry to assess the total overbilling by each power distribution company, he said and adjourned the hearing.
