Lesco selects 100 feeders to produce solar power

LAHORE: Lesco Chief Executive Officer Muhammad Amin has said solar energy is the focus of the government and has earmarked 4 acres each to all Discos with 11KV feeders to produce solar power in partnership with the private sector.

He said 100 feeders have been selected in this regard with the investment estimate of Rs170 million. He was addressing members of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said that there are many rumours regarding solar net metering, in which it is being said that the rate of net metering is being reduced but the rate is not being reduced at all.

He said that the government is installing solar on all the government buildings and subsidising solar tube-well. Conventional bulb factories are closing down and energy saving bulbs are being installed. A drive to replace all existing fans has been initiated and feasibility is being made on how old fans will be disposed of and efficient gadgets and conservation policy is being implemented.

On the demand of removing MDI fix charges by the President LCCI, the CEO Lesco answered that MDI fix charges were imposed by Nepra. Since Lesco is a beneficiary in the case of MDI as it brought revenue for the Discos, the Lesco itself cannot oppose the initiative.

He said that this has also resulted in setbacks to Lesco as many users have gone off-net and disconnected their connections due to MDI. The reason was that the bill had to be paid even in case of non-use of electricity and the tariff was also increased. He said that as a beneficiary, Lesco cannot oppose MDI. However, we will favour the decision to remove MDI fixed charges as Lesco has suffered a lot due to MDI. We try to keep the consumer with us because even if the industry is closed, it has to restart sometime.

About cluster issues in the markets, CEO said that Wapda wires are mixed with the other cables e.g. internet cables, telephones, CCTV cameras cables and many other wires. When Lesco clears any point from clusters, that same point is re-clustered in a year or two. On the demand of LCCI President to also implicate the staff of Lesco during any theft of electricity when FIR is registered against any industrialist, the CEO said, “We have already suspended five of our SDOs over access billing and FIRs are being registered against our own staff members on any misconduct.”

He said that it has virtually eliminated human intervention to reduce false meter readings. Now the photo of the electricity meter is affixed on the bill and it is no longer possible to forge it. The meters whose display has faded are being replaced. We are rapidly replacing meters as we receive supplies, he added.

He said that AMI modern meters are being installed for B1 consumers which will also remove other grievances. He said that Lesco has the problem of staff shortage. The current government has allowed the staff recruitment for which the advertisement has been issued. Applications for 8000 junior staff posts will be received soon, he added.

We have dismissed five SDOs over access billing complaints and filed FIRs against our own staff along with the FIA, he said. He said that the officers have clear instructions for transfer of meters. The business community should take their grievances at least to the SDO level.

Apart from this we also have our application called Lesco Light where you can do new connections, load management and lodge your complaints, he said. LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that a few months ago, Nepra has imposed Maximum Demand Indicator (MDI) charges on all industrial and commercial consumers according to their sanctioned load.

According to which 50 percent electricity bill has to be paid without using the units. If they use electricity more than 50 percent of their allotted load, then they will pay the bill according to the units used instead of MDI charges, he said and added that this decision is badly affecting the business community whose industrial units are closed or work in their industry is done on a seasonal basis.

We have repeatedly raised our voice about the fact that many accidents have occurred due to hanging electric wires in the markets but still no specific action has been taken in this regard, The LCCI president said and hoped that special attention would be paid to this aspect.

We also get the complaint from the presidents of the markets that after a great struggle they get approval for a transformer of higher capacity for one part of their market but the staff of Lesco installs this transformer in another place. When follow-up is done in this regard, the concerned staff keeps making excuses instead of taking the necessary action, he said.