PESHAWAR (WAJIDULLAH KHAN) - The electricity consumers thronged the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) sub-division offices on the first working day after Eid holidays, as the company allegedly dispatched incorrect power bills.

The company has allegedly charged the consumers more than the amount due for the electricity they consumed.
During a visit to Pesco’s Landi Arbab and Gulberg sub-division, it was observed that this fearless practice of officials has also led many of the villagers to become tangled in a vicious cycle, while visiting different offices of Pesco repeatedly to correct their bills. Recurring instructions by the Pesco incumbent chief to the concerned officials to develop a reliable system of assessing utility bills has also been useless as people still found no relief.
One Shah Jehan Khan, resident of Landi Arbab, who has become a victim this over-billing and as a result has had to make several visits to the Pesco offices. He lamented that he has a five-member poor family, whose average power consumption as was shown correctly in the bills of February to May this year was ranging from 90-120 units per month. However, in the month of June his meter reading was recorded as 9,462 units against the actual reading of 8,010 units, having 1452 extra units.
The elderly Shah Jehan, who was a retired government servant said that he felt it a great burden unon his family as when ‘I saw such a big difference in what he thought he would pay and what he was billed. He informed that when he went to Pesco’s Landi Arbab sub-division office, instead of accepting the mistake, the official present their spoke me to pay the bill in installments of Rs1,800 per month, he added.
He further said that the bill he received in the month of September was incorrect as it was incorporated extra dues of Rs 350 from the previous month, though he had paid last month’s installment.