PESHAWAR: As Muhammad Nawaz finishes prayer and leaves the mosque, he reaches an electric pole outside his home and stares at the newly installed power meter. The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) has installed dozens of new digital meters on electricity poles in several localities of the provincial capital. “I have been checking my power meter since its installation and noticed that it runs even on charging a single mobile phone,” says Nawaz, a resident of Kohati Gate locality. He added that since the installation of new meters, his cost of electricity consumption had increased by about 40 to 50 percent. Like Nawaz, several other residents of Kohati Gate complained that the new digital electricity meters being installed in the provincial capital are too fast. The electricity meters are being replaced in Kohati, Gulbahar, Sethi Town, Ramdas Bazaar, Karimabad, Sheikhabad, National Bank Colony and other areas of the city. However, residents say the new electricity meters are overcharging consumers. A resident of Kakshal locality, Abdullah, said it was becoming difficult for him to pay the bills after the installation of new meters. He added that he daily checked his meter that is installed on an electric pole at entrance to their street. “I have come to know that a remote control device is also being sold for about Rs10,000 in the market and is used to reverse the number of units in the meter,” he confided. A citizen, requesting anonymity, said the Wapda officials could even manipulate the new digital power meters for taking bribe. When contacted, Pesco’s Public Relations Officer Shaukat Afzal told The News that the new digital meters were of international standard and cannot be manipulated.
