Wapda declares old electricity meters outdated

Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has declared that all old electricity meters are outdated and the consumers are being sent lump sum bills in spite of reading the old meters installed in the houses.
According to a survey conducted by Business Recorder, on special instructions of Chairman Wapda the eight electric supply companies of the authority have declared all old electricity meters as outdated and out of order and started sending lump sum bills to the consumers.
These bills are manifold extra than the original use of these consumers.
Sources in Wapda told that three formulas are being used for billing to consumers having old meters installed in their houses.
First after calculating bills of previous 11 months and dividing them by 12 the final will be the bill of the month.
Second calculation of five months previous bills and dividing them by 6 and adding 10 percent, while the third is bill equal to previous year same month will be send to consumer.
The bills of February and March were sent under these formulas in which reading was shown zero while bills are manifold extra.
The Wapda consumers are moving from pillar to post to get their bills correct. But there is no one to give them an ear and to listen their problems.
The officials sitting in the sub-offices of the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) have declared it an unresolvable problem and have shown cold shoulder to consumers.
IESCO official in Rawalpindi, when asked about the problem said that the main objective behind all this is to replace old meters with new ones. These meters are main cause of power theft and to stop the pilferage, Wapda has decided to remove all old meters, he said.
"I do agree that the bills are excessive but I am unable to do anything with the consumers, as I will never go against the policy of the organisation", the official said with anonymity.
When asked that why the old meters are not being removed accordingly, he said that new meters were not provided to Rawalpindi city. The demand was of 17,000 meters while so far we have been provided only 5,000 meters.
He said that the meters are being replaced, as per policies of the Wapda but shortage of meters is main hurdle in completion of the operation.
Meanwhile, consumers have raised their voice as a result of the excessive electricity bills. "I came to IESCO Office Chandni Chowk with this excessive bill, but the officials here have shown complete cold shoulder", said Muhammad Ali a resident of Glass Factory area.
He said that it is salt rubbing on wounds of people as price hike has snatched from them the purchasing capacity.
Condemning this act of IESCO, Niaz Mehmood a resident of Pindora area said that he has received the bill equal to eight months bill for February only. "I am unable to understand on one side reading is zero then how they assessed that the bill should be eight times more than the previous one", he said.
He said that he came to IESCO office at Chandni Chowk to get the bill correct but no one is ready to hear him and solve this problem.
A lady standing outside the IESCO office when asked said that she is unable to consume the electricity any more. "The excessive bill has shocked me and I have no capacity to pay this huge bill. The policy planners are using thousands times more electricity than me and they are not paying any single penny. Wapda officials are also getting free electricity and they want to recover these losses from common people", she said and called upon the authorities to take stock of the situation.