Government Crackdown Zero Tolerance on Overbilling and Power Theft in Pakistan’s Energy Sector
Chairing a meeting at the FIA’s Zonal Office in Lahore, Mohsin Naqvi ordered indiscriminate action against the employees of power distribution companies charging extra amounts from consumers.
“There is zero tolerance when it comes to overbilling,” Naqvi said emphatically, adding, “Providing relief to the masses in their electricity bills is a priority for the government.”
The meeting also reviewed the progress made on action taken against those involved in overbilling and power theft so far.
Director FIA Lahore Sarfaraz Virk briefed the meeting while DG FIA Ishaq Jahangir attended the meeting via a video link.
Mohsin Naqvi reiterated that the zero-tolerance policy will continue against overbilling and action will also be taken against officers, who would burden citizens through overbilling.
He emphasized that negligence and failure of distribution companies (DISCOs) to serve citizens will not be acceptable at all.
Mohsin Naqvi expressed the government’s resolve that the provision of relief to electricity consumers in the overbilling issue is a top priority.
He said no complaint of overbilling was received in April. “The SE Sheikhupura was arrested for charging extra units from consumers,” the minister said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the relevant government departments are continuing operations against power pilferage.
According to the latest statistics, Rs91 billion have been collected from across the country and more than 69,000 electricity thieves arrested countrywide.
Over the last one week or so, the concerned departments collected 0.13 billion rupees from electricity thieves in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, and Islamabad.
0.272 billion rupees were recovered from Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta and tribal districts.
