Discos directed to get rid of tariff, billing anomalies

ISLAMABAD: Sardar Awais Leghari, the minister for power, on Tuesday said performance of distribution companies (DISCOs) and their heads would be assessed on the basis of their success in bridging gap between sold and billed units and adopting strategy to eliminate mismatch in tariff.

The directions were issued today in wake of the performance review meeting chaired by the power minister at the ministry.

“The CEOs of all DISCOs have been directed to file quarterly tariff adjustment petitions within the current month (March) with National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and pursue the same for better financial management as corporate entities,” a statement issued by the power division said.

The statement said the CEOs were further directed to ensure replacement of defective meters within seven days after being declared faulty, besides clearing the backlog of defective meters in their respective DISCOs by March 31, 2018.

“The minister, while taking strong exception to the continuous delays and frequent stock depletion of essential materials, has directed all the chairmen of the boards to make proper procurement plan for the next financial year and get it approved by 15th April 2018,” the power division said.

It added that Leghari also tasked the concerned authorities to prepare a list of problematic items of procurement, while asking Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) to notify a working group to design central procurement system to avoid quality and delay issues.

Moreover, the power division said, the federal minister further directed that all the ripe connections cases should be cleared by up to March 31, 2018 and new online application system be implemented until March 15, 2018.

“After 15th March, no application should be entertained on the previous manual system,” Leghari said and directed the CEO of Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) to install automatic meter reading (AMR) system on all government connections up to 31.03.2018.