Distribution companies (DISCOs) under the Power Division admitted that they overbilled citizens but blamed it on natural, human, and technical factors.
This comes in response to a recent inquiry report by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) which found massive discrepancies in meter reading, billing, defective metering, and the corrective mechanism in all DISCOs.
DISCOs admitted that the recovery ratio of the overall amount of detection costs charged to consumers, as per NEPRA’s report, is correct, but claimed that the report had issues like inaccurate data, faulty methodology, and far from ground realities.
The distribution companies questioned NEPRA’s assertion that meter readings should never exceed 30 days under the consumer service manual, claiming that this could not be true for 31-day months and that they may surpass 34 days due to vacations, weekends, or perhaps any other reason.
They further added that some reports of overbilling are incorrect in cases where some consumer groups that exceed a monthly consumption slab in a month are not eligible for the subsidized slab for the next six months.
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