Federal Minister for Energy Sardar Awais Leghari has ordered a comprehensive crackdown on arbitrary detection billing by power distribution companies, known as Discos. He has directed them to issue such bills only through a central online portal, and he has warned that officials who bill manually will face strict disciplinary action. The Power Division also plans to limit how far back detection bills can reach.
What the minister ordered
According to an official announcement, the minister took serious notice of excessive and allegedly incorrect detection bills imposed on electricity consumers. He issued instructions for a reform framework during a meeting with the boards of directors of the Discos. The framework is meant to regulate the discretion of field staff while protecting consumers' rights.
Detection billing refers to charges that a Disco raises for electricity it believes was used but not recorded properly, or used without authorisation. Under the new framework, all such bills will be processed only through the online portal of the Pakistan Information Technology Company (PITC), a state-owned IT firm. Manual and discretionary issuance of detection bills by field staff and sub-divisional officers, the local officers who oversee distribution areas, has been prohibited.
The minister said that preventing electricity theft remained a national priority, but honest consumers could not be subjected to arbitrary financial burdens. He stressed that no official would be allowed to exploit consumers by acting beyond the law and applicable rules.
Limits on meters and detection bills
The Power Division will propose amendments to the Consumer Service Manual in the coming days. The proposed changes set timelines for meter replacement, average billing, meter accuracy adjustments and detection billing. The changes are still at the proposal stage.
Under the proposals, defective or burnt meters would have to be replaced immediately, or within two billing cycles at the latest. Average billing during a replacement period would be restricted to two months. If a meter is found running slow or fast, recovery or credit adjustments would be limited to the two preceding billing cycles.
For detection bills, the proposed framework sets maximum periods. Ordinary consumers found involved in unauthorised electricity use would face a detection billing period of three billing cycles. The limit would be six months for registered consumers and 12 months for unregistered consumers. The aim is to prevent prolonged retrospective billing, and the boards of Discos and their customer services committees would review detection bills every month for accuracy, transparency and the legitimacy of recoveries.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Bijli ki companies ko ab detection bill sirf PITC ke online portal ke zariye bhejna hoga, aur field staff ka hath se bill banana sakht misconduct hoga. Meter kharab ho to do billing cycles ke andar badalna hoga, aur detection bill ki muddat bhi mehdood karne ki tajweez hai. Ye tabdeeliyan abhi proposal ki shakl mein hain, lekin lagu hone par aap ka bill mana-mani ke bajaye qaidon ke mutabiq banega.
