Lesco overbilling consumers with staff connivance

LAHORE: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) staff is involved in systematic and widespread exercise of overbilling, which helps the management in balancing out its huge distribution losses, causing enormous injustice and financial loss to power consumers, concludes a study conducted by the company’s own Board of Directors (BoD).
The BoD of Lesco, in their analysis of consumer data of 2014-15, evaluated month-wise distribution losses of the power utility, which is one of Pakistan’s biggest in terms of revenue generation as well as consumer-base. The board carried out the analysis of monthly losses for March-May 2015, a copy of which is available with The News. The study indicates mass fudging of power distribution data of feeders to artificially balance the books at the subdivision level.
Despite repeated instructions, sources said that Lesco’s top management failed to rectify wrong computing of power losses and also did not take administrative action against the involved staff.
A Lesco board member, while commenting on the outcome of the study said it was not a small-scale crime, but racketeering to fudge the power loss data.
The BoD in its next meeting, which is scheduled to be held today (Thursday), will review progress made in this regard.
As per findings of the study, which were shared with the top management of Lesco, including its chief executive officer on different occasions, it became evident from the April and May 2015 analysis that feeder-level losses were contrived and not natural. Subdivision level losses were artificially balanced out and brought on par with the losses of the same month in the previous year. For example, study explains, nearly every subdivision would artificially structure the losses of May 14 to equal the losses of May 15 with minor variances. Administratively, Lesco has about 1,400 feeders that fall under 160 sub-divisions. There are 33 operational divisions and on average, about five subdivisions are controlled by each division.
The startling revelation of the study is ‘balancing out’ of losses, which was done by massive overbilling and under-billing of consumers in selected feeders within each subdivision, a phenomenon termed as ‘strike’ by the BoD study.
This phenomenon was observed nearly universally in all subdivisions of the company, which supplies electricity to five districts of central Punjab, including the provincial metropolis Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Okara, and Nankana Sahib. The study observes that this loss fudging caused enormous injustice and financial loss to Lesco and its consumers. The upward and downward manipulation of power losses is being done alternatively on monthly basis, it has emerged.
The board shared the data and analysis with the Lesco management with a clear direction to fix this problem nearly four months ago. However, the top management of Lesco have not yet taken administrative action as per the BoD directives. A similar analysis was carried out for May 2015 losses to assess if the problem has been fixed or improved, besides identify the worst performing sub-divisions. Much to the astonishment of the BoD, May 2014-15 losses show a remarkably similar trend to that seen in March and April; feeders that were under-billed in 2014 show overbilling in 2015, and vice versa. Similar to March and April data analysis, a large scale and near symmetric redistribution of losses across feeders has occurred in May 2015, indicating zero improvement in affairs of the company. Again, at the subdivision level the change in losses remains stable further confirming that the fudging of data is occurring at the subdivision level.
Mapping volatility against units lost revealed Rachna Town, Akhtarabad, Bilal Colony, Atta-Abad, Faizpur, UET, and Liberty to be among May’s worst performing subdivisions. Akhtarabad and Bilal Colony have popped up as worst performing subdivisions in March, April, and May indicating a severe problem in these subdivisions
As per the summary of the performance, the study finds that there has been no improvement in losses over the past 6-8 months. Up until the first quarter of 2015, the board and management were unable to set the feeder level targets. Up until May 2015, the management was unable to show any improvement in loss reduction.
The BoD in its report presented the path forward for reconciling power losses, stressing the need to set feeder level targets, implement the band and move strategy, and set up a Lesco performance delivery unit to ensure timely analysis and monitoring of power supply data. It was also underlined to take immediate and stern disciplinary action against the worst performers.
Recalling the initial phase of the study, a Lesco Board member said that the top management of the company did manage to reduce losses in high-loss feeders (above 20 per cent loss) in the month of March 2015 by an impressive 7.8 percent, if compared with the corresponding month of last year against the target of lowering losses by 10 per cent. However, he added, overall losses of the company contrastingly increased by 0.5 per cent, which perplexed the BoD. After carrying out the analysis, BoD found that losses in high-loss feeders were on decline but it also indicated that this decrease was transferred to other feeders.
For example, at the Gulshan Ravi Sub-Division of Lahore city, the targeted high-loss feeders showed decrease in losses but non-targeted feeders saw significant increase in losses in the same month.