Meter readers: Pack of extortionists

Head of PPP Media Cell and former Information Secretary
My car driver, Faizan, is passing through an agony inflicted by the meter reader of Kamahyan Village, near DHA, Lahore, who was handed over the electricity bill of Rs1700 not because he used so much electricity but as he declined to oblige him being a poor man. I spoke to the relevant SDO to help the poor fellow but heat-wrenchingly my polite intervention proved like a sky lab on the poor man because the SDO, behaving like a head of pack, pronounced much harsher financial punishment on the driver who was in tears and I was in a state of helplessness thinking how stone-hearted these functionaries are. Instead of helping the poor fellow, who is at last end of the food chain, he pushed him against the wall. Is it a secret that majority of the employees are causing billions of rupees of losses to the government exchequer as they are hand in gloves in this crime with the big industrialists and powerful living in posh areas? I hope that the relevant God fearing authorities, if any, will take notice of it and help the children of lesser gods because the system in vogue is profoundly weighted against the poor and marginalized segments of the society. I know they will not budge in defending the case against the impoverished fellow. The elite and powerful are above the law and easily manipulate everything in their favour. In case of poor, the parsimonious is shameful that begs all descriptions.
Ironically, people who pay electricity bills also pay for the electricity that is consumed by the electricity thieves who in collusion with the employees of the power distribution companies are notorious for taking bribe. Honest consumers are forced to pay for the sins committed by others. It is hard to find a consumer who has not gone through the intimidation and coercion of meter readers. They constitute another type of mafia engaged recklessly in extortion. I know many people who refused to take their offer of reduced electricity bills, and resultantly have to face the backlash in the shape of inflated bills. Their meters were put on fast track nudging either pay more or accept their lucrative incentive of reduced bill in lieu of oiling their palm. They have insidious ways of making win-win situation, but at the expense of the public exchequer. The consumers should resist their pressure but generally they prefer not to confront their tyranny to save themselves from resultant financial miseries those will hunt them unabatedly.
I vividly remember Minister of State for Power Abid Sher Ali had been vociferously selling the idea of supplying electricity to only those who are willing to pay. It was fair proposition but it seemed that the same had been thrown out of the window as nothing came out of the fanfare projection so far and the honest consumers continue to bear the major brunt for being honest. Honesty is the worst policy in this system especially. Presumably, the state of affairs suggests the dropping of the plan due to the pressure from the powerful that he could not resist. He is a dynamic and assertive minister enjoying the close relationship with the Chief Executive. He dared to cut the supply of electricity of the President House, Parliament, Supreme Court and similar powerful institutions for non-payment of arrears. He earned acclaims for his courage but the situation unfortunately on the ground remained the same as was amply evident from the resurfacing of the mountain of the circular debt that was retired when this government came into power in 2013. Efforts of the minister did not yield results as anticipated because the royal mess has piled up beyond cleansing. So, he has to endure the situation that he could not cure despite his best efforts. He has to live with it and the people have to suffer.
Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) after the privatization was in a situation like between the deep sea and rock due to “kunda system.” Its handling was problematic in the face of worse law and order situation and the power companies dared not to enter the localities to stop this blatant theft of electricity. The management of the KESC evolved a novel prescription to cure the disease by introducing a new framework by which it ensured the supply of electricity almost uninterrupted to the areas where consumers were willing to pay, and reduced the supply to Kunda localities.
It worked in Karachi as the losses of KESC reduced from 40% to 25% within short span of time. The same could be replicated in LESCO as a pilot project because doing nothing will not extricate the distributors and the consumers from the quagmire that has been incrementally suffocating the whole system to paralysis.
The other redeeming feature of the new experiment would be less loadshedding in the areas where people pays bills as compare to the localities those do not pay bills by resorting to theft of electricity. It is a fair deal. The outcome of the arrangement will be encouraging as less supply of electricity would result in less theft of the utility proportionately. This will also serve as an effective deterrence besides convincing the consumers to pay for the utility bills because the habit of freebie is no more sustainable.
The other proposal that the Ministry of Power should give serious consideration pertains to the installation of pre-paid meters at the residential and commercial premises so that the root causes of theft and tempering of the meters are comprehensively addressed. The people would like to bear the expenses for the fixing of such matres in order to get rid of the loadshedding and also of the tyranny of the corrupt employees who otherwise are hard nuts to crack. Above all, its success will ensure the receivable and the withering away of the mountain of circular debt.
This system has met resounding success in South Africa and many other countries because its tempering can be easily detected and also fiddling with it will automatically suspend the supply of electricity. It sounds a fair deal because only those consumers will get the ensured supply of electrify who have already paid for it and those who opt for not paying they should face the consequences in the form of getting no supply of electricity at all.
It may be pertinent to mention here that the telephone mobile companies operating in Pakistan have been using this model successfully where defaulters are almost non- existent. The same model should be introduced in the power sector otherwise the dooms days scenario will linger on.
Theft of electricity and investment in the power sector has co-relationship. If distribution and transmission losses continue to be on the rise obviously it will not be cost-effective and the future investment is bound to dry up and the situation will become from bad to worse. The phenomenon of circular debt of now running more than Rs580 billion is the direct result of the non-receipt of the receivable. It is besides the point that the public sector is the major defaulter but the question remains the same that how to ensure the receipt of the dues for the utility service provided by the public and the private sectors. The structural changes have to be introduced preceded by implementation in letter and spirit across the board.
It is also a serious governance issue that warrants its solution on a sustainable basis because without it the improvement will remain a far-fetched cry. The political will is the pre-requisite otherwise all efforts will prove as futile exercise. The employees should be subjected to strict discipline and the system of reward and punishment should be in place and its ruthless and indiscriminate implementation should not only be undertaken but be seen to be undertaken. It is a gigantic task because the old habits die hard. But, it must be understood that there is no escape because the whole system of power generation, transmission and distribution is at the brink of disaster and turnaround can only be brought about through accountability and transparency cobbled with the highest degree of professionalism both at administrative, technical and management spheres.
muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com