ELECTRICAL WOES

According to a news report (The News 12/04/2017) some alleged electricity thieves thrashed the concerned LESCO SDO. This is most unfortunate incident, but such incidents are becoming common in electric utility company offices all around the country. This situation of desperation is arising out of many serious causes which the utility company CEO’s and our political masters must pay attention to. For the present, I am only concerned about LESCO.

The first immediate cause is the rapid approach of the closure of financial year on June 30, 2017. Utility companies in general, and LESCO officials in particular are desperate to meet their financial targets. According to a news report, LESCO faces revenue short fall of about PKR 2 billion. LESCO authorities want to cover this shortfall by hook or by crook. To that end, a massive drive has been started to recover money by all means. For this purpose rightly or wrongly, power theft cases / detection cases / defective meter cases are being instituted against many unwary consumers. Incidentally, most of these cases are instituted in low income or underdeveloped / slum localities where consumers are uneducated, poor and without influence. These people are easy prey for the predatory LESCO officials. These poor people are slapped with heavy detection bills which most of them cannot afford to pay. I have myself seen widows weeping in front of SDO’s office with detection bill demanding thousands of rupees in hand. The most pathetic aspect of this tragic scenario is that the concerned LESCO staff, who, I would say, are themselves under great stress to achieve the targets, are extremely rude and unsympathetic towards these poor people.

The two most cruel aspects of a detection / theft bill are number one, its suddenness, and number two, its arbitrariness. It is slapped suddenly without giving any prior warning or notice and without assigning any reason and without any opportunity to explain one’s position (which is perhaps against the law but certainly against natural justice);. It hits one all of a sudden like a bolt out of the blue.

Secondly, the penalty imposed is totally arbitrary, unaccompanied with any justification and without any calculation as if electricity supply is some kind of Voodoo Magic which cannot be explained to ordinary people. Also, by offering no justification for their actions LESCO authorities only exhibit their callousness and humiliating attitude towards their consumers. In one case a detection bill of PKR 22,000/= was arbitrarily imposed on a consumer whose bills showed that his average consumption was a steady 130 units per month for the last 10 years and till the last bill, which was for 129 units, without any evidence of theft or meter malfunction.

Theft of electric power is a criminal and non bail able offense. If someone is accused of theft of electric power then along with a detection bill, a criminal case must also be instituted against the accused. But LESCO officials do not take that trouble because their case invariably is so weak that it would not withstand judicial scrutiny. This only shows that detection bill is only a form of extortion.

The important thing about power theft is that it cannot be done without the active connivance of the concerned staff. Poor people with very limited resources dare not confront powerful utility officials and therefore are less likely to indulge in power theft. Moreover, these poor people cannot offer utility officials attractive sums of money or any kind of patronage. Power theft is only a game of the rich and the influential. It is a common knowledge and no state secret.

However, in the present writing, I am trying to suggest some methods to mitigate the misery of ordinary LESCO consumers with regard to the detection bills. What I want to submit before the honourable LESCO high ups are some humble suggestions for improvement in electric supply, improvement in revenue collection, effective and reasonable detection of theft of electrical power. Hopefully, the situation can be improved greatly without spending an extra rupee. I am also conscious that I am only repeating something that is already well known to the highly qualified LESCO Authorities.

First of all power theft. Electricity Supply is not an occult science. Rather, it is a completely mathematical science. Just like doctors, who can now diagnose diseases without entering the body of the patient (non invasive methods) power theft can be detected without entering a premises. LESCO people not only very well know that there is an instrument called CLAMP AMPERE METER, I have seen them using it. With the help of this instrument even a semiskilled person can find out how much power is being used in the premises without entering into it. All that is needed is that different premises be checked randomly. Their readings should be compared with sanctioned load or meter reading. If there is any discrepancy, it must at once be brought to the notice of the consumer in writing. It can even be printed as a notice on his bill. (But LESCO so badly needs money that the whole bill is drowned in advertisements.) In this way a consumer gets a prior warning about his electrical extravagance or his faulty meter. After three such warnings a detection / excess use penalty may be imposed on the consumer. This would certainly be less painful than the present practice.

Secondly, the same information can also be used to suggest to the consumer that his consumption has increased and he is going to be placed in the higher consumption bracket with a bit increased fixed charges. This will automatically enhance the LESCO revenue. This will also help in planning further expansion and betterment of the electrical system.

The gist of my submissions is that LESCO must not have a terrorizing or adversarial attitude towards its clients. Its employees must be instructed to show a positive and helpful attitude towards its clientele.

Lastly, customers and clients are blessings of Almighty. Their respect and service is the cardinal principle of any good business. And it is great wisdom to be fearful of Almighty especially with regard to the poor and downtrodden. Kindness is more important than revenue.

And a last message to all economic sages and financial wizards of Pakistan. You cannot pay off a circular debt of PKR 400 billion by snatching amounts like 10, 000 rupees from the people like Chand Bibi widow of Mukha Masih of Ganda Engine, Gawalmandi, Lahore.