Pakistan People’s Party Senator Raza Rabbani on Tuesday castigated country’s power distribution companies (Discos) for overcharging consumers, saying that action should be initiated against them for the ‘criminal activity’.
The statement came after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority exposed the “most controversial power theft drive” of the power distribution companies, defrauding consumers of billions of rupees by overcharging them as much as 100 percent.
The regulatory authority, in its inquiry report, claimed that the distribution companies were intentionally engaging in such malpractices to conceal their inefficiencies, causing thousands of consumers to suffer from higher electricity bills.
In a statement, the PPP Senator said that the NEPRA’s inquiry had revealed the “mother of all scams, as power firms have been skinning alive users through inflated bills”.
Raza Rabbani noted that the inquiry report had called into question the integrity of Discos’ entire revenue stream. “The report found that the actual amount charged to users differed from the snapshot of the meter reading available on the bills,” he added.
“The revelations in the report amount to criminal activity,” Rabbani said, adding that the Discos should be proceeded against. He also demanded that the over charged amount should be adjusted against users’ bills.
The Senator further said that the Nepra report should be placed before the Senate to recommend what action should be taken, adding that the CEOs of the Discos should be placed on the Exit Control List.
