LAHORE: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) network has reached unprecedented levels of defective and burnt electricity meters.
In its revealed documents, a total of 105,000 single-phase and three-phase meters have been reported defective or burnt within LESCO‘s operational areas.
LESCO has recorded 102,000 defective single-phase meters, and 2400 three-phase meters are either defective or burnt. In spite of the increasing numbers, the electricity utility was unable to replace them as the stock of meters within the company is almost finished.
Even under NEPRA regulation, LESCO is required to replace defective meters, and since there is a stock shortage, average billing to the consumer is the solution instead of issuing them new meters.
The average billing is then continued even after the company places a “defective code“ on the customer‘s account. Earlier, the company halted the installation of conventional electricity meters at the orders of the Ministry of Energy’s Power Division, and then contributes to further delays were caused by the procurement of the single-phase smart meter being slowed down as well.
