IESCO Tops NEPRA’s Performance Evaluation Rankings

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has declared Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) as the best performing distribution company among all DISCOs in Pakistan. K-Electric ranking moved up to 5th position while Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) ranked last in overall performance. NEPRA blamed DISCOs of providing fake data and the sub-standard performance of DISCOS caused losses of Rs. 111 billion in 2016-17. NEPRA released Performance Evaluation Report of DISCOs and K Electric for the Financial year 2016-17. It was formulated under Performance Standards Distribution Rules (PSDR) 2005. Each distribution company is required to submit an annual Performance Report (APR) in a prescribed format to NEPRA. This report is based on four parameters; T&D Losses, Recovery, Time Frame for New Connections and Safety. Each parameter is given 25 marks.   NEPRA disclosed that DISCOs and K Electric provided fake and misleading reports regarding their performance. NEPRA will now take legal action on DISCOs involved in misreporting. NEPRA penalized Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO), Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) and Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) on this issue while proceedings against Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and K Electric (KE) are under process. On the recovery side, SEPCO has achieved a 110% recovery ratio. This performance surprised NEPRA and the authority has inquired SEPCO to submit the details of measures taken to achieve such a high percentage of recovery. IESCO & LESCO have maintained their recovery positions recovered 100% of their dues. GEPCO, FESCO, MEPCO, and HESCO have achieved more than 95% recoveries. This performance of recovery accumulates to more than Rs 76 billion. The safety standard of DISCOs is also on the lower side. During 2016-17 there were 174 fatal accidents out of which 83 were employees and 64 were common citizens. The highest number of fatal accidents were reported by LESCO – 29 deaths including 13 employees and 16 citizens.