ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday expressed surprise over the professional competence of top officials of the power Distribution Companies (Discos) and their handling of sectoral issues.
The Authority voiced its concerns during a public hearing on the multi-year tariff petition filed by the Sukkur Electric Supply Company (Sepco) for determining its distribution and supply tariffs for FY 2025–26 to FY 2029–30. The discussion took a critical turn when the issue of recovery and detection bills for electricity theft and chronic defaulters came under review.
Sepco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Aijaz Ahmed Channa admitted that detection bills were being issued to consumers in rural areas who continue to use electricity illegally through kundas (hooks) despite having disconnected connections or disconnected meters.
A Nepra official pointed out that instead of replacing defective meters, Discos were sending average bills to consumers. He informed the Authority that Sepco had 86 defective meters— 31 of which had been faulty for less than a year and 11 for over a year. The official maintained that average billing continued for such consumers. However, the Sepco CEO claimed that all defective meters had now been replaced in the current billing cycle and that no defective meters would remain in the future.
The Nepra official refuted the CEO’s statement, revealing that detection billing amounted to Rs 2.7 billion, with Rs 1.8 billion related to September 2025—bringing the total to Rs 4.6 billion— against which only Rs 47 million had been collected. In Rohri Division, detection bills were issued to 50,000 consumers, though the total number of consumers there is 93,000. In Sukkur, a detection bill was even issued for an empty plot with no electricity connection.
Taking cognizance of the situation, Nepra Member (Development) Maqsood Anwar Khan expressed his displeasure, remarking that it appeared as if Sepco was “running its own government.” He noted that over 70 percent of consumers were un-metered, and the company was sending them estimated bills.
Member (Technical) Rafique Ahmad Shaikh, who also hails from Sindh, concurred with his colleague but expressed helplessness in addressing the issue. “I agree, but I don’t understand which wall we should bang our heads against,” he said in frustration.
Meanwhile, Member (Law) Amina Ahmed voiced her disappointment over the apparent lack of understanding among Disco officials, saying that this was precisely why she had refrained from asking questions during the hearing.
In its tariff petition, Sepco proposed a fixed charge of Rs 1,000 per kW on net metering consumers to reduce the financial burden on the company and minimize cross-subsidisation by regular consumers for lifeline users.
Acting CEO of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), Faizullah Dahri, proposed two possible solutions to address issues related to net metering: introducing fixed network usage charges based on sanctioned load or export capacity, or transitioning to a gross metering framework to avoid cross-subsidies. The Authority also held a separate public hearing on the Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) tariff petition for determining its tariff for the period FY 2025–26 to FY 2029–30.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025