Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) is going to offer discounted hours for the industry very soon instead of peak hours.
Chief Executive Officer of LESCO Mujahid Pervaiz Chattha revealed this while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Friday. He agreed that the quality of digital metering is not up to the mark and said that LESCO is re-trying to get rid of this issue.
To a question regarding high percentage of fine on late bill payment, he said that LESCO is working to proportionate the rate. He said that public should use the LESCO message complaint APP service to register complaints as on this service every single complain is monitored.
"Good news for the industrialists is that test report after demand note of new connection is now allowed to be submitted when they start production. Before that it was must to submit the test report right after demand note is issued," he said and added that LESCO is also working, on free of cost energy audit programme for the industry with the help of government, he added.
While answering a question regarding high rate of line loses in Lahore as compare to other DISCOs in Punjab, he said that the transmission area of LESCO is double as compared to the DISCOs. He said that not only electricity theft but technical loses are also a reason of high line losses.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said there is often an issue of late delivery of electricity bills at the business premises. The businesses have to face harassment by the field staff of LESCO who disconnects the power supply the next morning if a business entity fails to pay the bill within the due date. This is against the NEPRA rules pertaining to disconnection of electricity connection, he said.
He said that the rules clearly state that in case of non-payment of previous month electricity bill, the DISCO shall serve a prior seven-day notice to the defaulting consumer to either clear outstanding dues with the current bill or face disconnection and penal action. These rules are clear and require a DISCO to follow a proper procedure before disconnecting an electricity connection. Unfortunately, this process is not being followed by LESCO, he added.
The LCCI President said that the rate of late payment surcharge which ranges from 5 to 8 percent is very high. This rate also needs to be rationalized. He said that the businesses also face difficulties in getting extension of loads from LESCO.
"There is a dire need of improving the efficiency of LESCO Complaint offices. The staff members at complaint offices are not properly trained and are also under-equipped to address the complaints efficiently, he said. LCCI requests that the complaint management system of LESCO should be streamlined for the mutual benefit of LESCO and its customers," LCCI President added.
LCCI Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar also spokes on the occasion.
Comments
Comments are closed.