- Sensing billing used to cover transmission and distribution losses.
- Fees passed on to consumers on estimated and detected units.
- The report raises concerns aboutprecision, legitimacy of detection units.
ISLAMABAD: Amid the government’s continued efforts to provide relief to the people regarding utility bills, it has been revealed that over a million electricity consumers are burdened by misuse of sensor billing by several companies electricity distribution (discotheques), News reported Thursday.
According to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (Nepra) ‘State of The Industry Report 2024’, sensing billing affected 1.38 million consumers, resulting in charges totaling around Rs 35 billion during the last quarter of financial year 2023-24 (April to June 2024). .
However, these companies managed to recover only Rs 5.736 billion from consumers.
Sense charging, used ostensibly to cover transmission and distribution (T&D) losses or to artificially boost the financial performance of nightclubs, has unfairly placed a burden on consumers, the report said.
Instead of addressing T&D losses through infrastructure improvements, these costs were passed on to consumers based on estimated or detected units of electricity consumption, rather than actual consumption, it adds.
Furthermore, he points out that several discotheques, including Pesco, Iesco, Gepco, Lesco, Fesco, Mepco, Hesco, Sepco, Qesco and K-Electric, have issued such invoices in various parts of Pakistan. Consumers have been faced with significant fees as collection rates remain low, exacerbating financial difficulties for many.
Pesco alone has issued detection bills to over 70,000 consumers, totaling over Rs 1.5 billion, of which Rs 450.8 million has been recovered. Iesco billed 12,703 consumers for Rs 349.85 million, thereby recovering Rs 345.9 million. Similarly, Gepco issued bills totaling Rs118.6 million to 66,743 consumers, with a recovery of Rs861.3 million.
Lesco issued invoices amounting to Rs3.737 billion to 38,712 consumers, recovering Rs1.176 billion. Fesco billed 46,757 consumers for Rs 360.64 million, with recoveries reaching Rs 630 million. Mepco’s invoices amounted to 769 million rupees, of which 1.376 billion rupees were recovered.
Hesco billed consumers Rs7.61 billion, recovering Rs339 million, while Sepco billed Rs13.157 billion, recovering Rs411.97 million. Qesco billed Rs195.85 million to 7,446 consumers, recovering Rs144.85 million. K-Electric’s detection bills stood at Rs7.44 billion.
The disparity between amounts billed and recoveries raises concerns about the accuracy and legitimacy of the detection units used by these nightclubs.
The lack of transparency and the perception of financial manipulation via sensor billing has led to widespread discontent, eroding consumer confidence in the billing system.
In response to these issues, Nepra urged nightclubs to strictly adhere to its guidelines for issuing detection invoices. The regulator emphasizes that such invoices should only be issued when there is clear evidence of consumption discrepancies.
Nepra called for greater transparency in the billing process to restore consumer confidence in the fairness of electricity rates.