Islamabad: The audit report of the power companies has revealed startling revelations, which have exposed large-scale financial irregularities in the power sector. According to media reports, 8 power distribution companies under the Power Division have been found to be involved in overbilling of a total of Rs244 billion.
The audit report has stated that ISCO, LESCO, HESCO, MEPCO, PESCO, KESCO, SEPCO and TESCO sent additional bills to consumers to hide line losses, power theft and their poor performance. Surprisingly, the overbilling affected not only domestic consumers but also agricultural tube wells and even deceased people.
According to the report, MEPCO sent electricity bills worth Rs49.6 million to deceased people, while 5 companies billed consumers for more than 1.2 million units despite using zero units.
Another revelation revealed that 278,649 consumers were overbilled for a total of Rs 47.81 billion in one month, while unnecessary bills of 904.6 million units were imposed on consumers in the year 2023-24.
According to the audit report, Kesco collected an illegal amount of more than Rs 148 billion from agricultural consumers alone in the form of overbilling.
Furthermore, 10 distribution companies issued additional bills of Rs 18.64 billion on 1432 feeders and did not provide records even when requested by the audit authorities.
The sad thing is that no legal action has been taken against the officers involved in all this overbilling and financial irregularities.
