Series of fatal accidents: Nepra imposes Rs10m fine on LESCO
ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday imposed a Rs10 million fine on Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) over a series of fatal accidents in its service area caused by inadequate earthing of electrical poles and structures.
According to Nepra decision, during the investigation conducted by Nepra with respect to fatal accidents occurring in the service territory of DISCOs, it was observed that the distribution facilities of DISCOs such as poles/structures, lack earthing/grounding, which is one of the major causes of the occurrence of fatal accidents.
The authority while taking notice of such serious safety hazards, directed the licensee on June 07, 2022, followed by a reminder of July 06, 2022 to submit the data pertaining to the total number of poles/structures, the number of poles/structures already earthed/grounded, and the number of poles/structures to be earthed/grounded. Accordingly, the licensee submitted the required information in its email of July 21, 2022.
The authority after carefully examining the data submitted by the licensee called the CEO of the licensee on September 26, 2022, for a meeting/hearing via Zoom at NEPRA Head Quarter with the direction to come up with a comprehensive plan along with specific timelines pertaining to the execution of earthing/grounding of HT/LT poles/structures in its service territory to avoid fatal accidents in the future.
The authority also directed that the licensee shall submit the response to specific queries/questions including SOP of the licensee pertaining to earthing/grounding of the poles/structures, scope of earthing in the contracts at the time of their installation, checking of poles/structures grounding at the time of handing over of the system from construction to operation departments, tackling these hazards in the absence of proper earthing/grounding, and the time required to execute the earthing/grounding of 100% of the remaining poles/structures.
Accordingly, the hearing was held on October 04, 2022, wherein the authority directed the licensee to submit complete details of PCC poles and steel structures with and without earthing/grounding.
The authority further directed the licensee to submit a comprehensive plan of the execution of earthing /grounding of poles and structures along with concrete timelines.
Moreover, the authority also desired that the licensee should provide a mechanism for how they will efficiently perform the execution task within the minimum possible time.
A letter of October 28, 2022, containing all the above directions, followed by reminder letters were issued to licensee and various telephonic calls were also made in this regard.
After perusing all the relevant records, applicable law, and taking into account the arguments of the licensee, the authority has observed that the licensee has neither based their objections on the discovery of new and important matter nor on account of some mistake or error apparent on the face of the record nor on other sufficient reasons for which evidence could not be produced by the licensee.
Arguments of the licensee in support of their review had already been considered and discussed by the authority in its earlier decision. No error apparent on the face of the record was pointed out by the licensee, nor have any other sufficient reasons been advanced to justify the review.
Hence, the review is dismissed. Therefore, the authority upholds its earlier Order dated September 20, 2024.
Moreover, the licensee is directed to pay the fine of Rs 10 million within fifteen days of the issuance of this order and forward a copy of the paid instrument to the registrar office for information, failing which the authority may recover the amount due under section 41 of the NEPRA Act as arrears of the land revenue or through any other appropriate legal means in addition to taking any other appropriate legal action against the licensee for non-compliance.
Furthermore, the authority has also maintained its earlier directions with respect to earthing/grounding of all remaining (100 percent) steel structures within three months and PCC Poles within one year. Failure to comply with the directions of the authority may lead to further penalties on the licensee, which will be decided after the completion of the specified timelines.
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