Consumers get inflated bills under auto generated system

LAHORE: Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) has calculated power bills through automatic system or pro rata basis, which resulted in issuing abnormally high electricity bills to many consumers.

A spokesperson for Lahore Electric Supply Company acknowledged on Saturday that monthly power bills have been sent to consumers from July through automatic system (pro rata). He explained that the pro rata system automatically prepared bills according to the days of the month. However, many people claimed that they have received inflated power bills this month, showing two to three times more consumption. They asked the power utility to review such calculation and issue revised bills according to the actual consumption. According to Lesco spokesperson, after introduction of pro rata system, the arbitrariness of meter readers about calculating power use is over. Now less or higher readings cannot be possible, he insisted. Pro rata system has been launched after receiving complaints of overbilling from customers, he claimed.

Meanwhile, according to Lesco spokesperson, last year 16 lakh 78 thousand 129 consumers were included in the protected category. This number has increased to 21 lakh 81 thousand 88 this year. The total number of domestic customers of Lesco are 49 lakh 71 thousand 377. Only 49,753 customers came out of the protected category this month, which is just 1pc of the total domestic customers.