LAHORE - The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), in its review of the performance of Distribution Companies during December 2017, has reported that performance of Lahore Electric Supply company (Lesco) in Punjab has been the worst under its CEO Wajid Ali Kazmi, showing a total loss of Rs2.14 billion in one month.

According to the report, LESCO's worst circle was Kasur under its SEs Mushtaq Ali Qamar and Rustam Ali, reporting a loss of Rs364.57 million. The worst two divisions were Kasur Rural and Kot Radha Kishan under XENs Muhammad Ashfaq and Aman Ullah Sh, registering loss of Rs95.3 million and Rs34.3 million respectively.

The report pointed out that at the lowest tier, sub-division Rural Area Kasur under Acting SDO Amjad Hussain, Elah Abad West under Acting SDO Abdul Rashid Watto and Hallah under acting SDO Muhammad Hamid Raza incurred loss of Rs30.5 million, Rs23.45 million and Rs16.55 million respectively.

The worst performing CEO's and SEs in each DISCO have been issued strong letters of explanation with direction to respond within 14 days.

It is to be noted that the Progress Report of November 2017 regarding Aggregate Technical & Commercial Losses (AT&C) of Power Distribution Companies (DISCOs), released by the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) on Jan 08, 2018, had also revealed that Lahore Electric Supply Company was the worst performer in efficiency of power supply among all DISCOs of Punjab, including Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) and Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO).

Showing the worst power theft in Punjab and remaining at the top in the province, the LESCO had reported line losses and power theft of 16.64 million units in the month of Nov 2017.

According to the new report of December 2017, the progress of implementation of the development schemes under the Phase-I of the Sustainable Development Goals was satisfactory.

Despite very larger number of schemes in MEPCO and FESCO i.e. 3646 and 1595 schemes respectively both had achieved the targeted timelines.

All DISCOs except PESCO, SEPCO and QESCO have achieved the targets for picture-based meter reading for the domestic and commercial consumers.

In the drive for acquiring mobile phone numbers of all consumers MEPCO, IESCO & FESCO were the top three DISCOs with more than 90 percent consumer mobile numbers in their database.

Performance of HESCO and SEPCO was not encouraging with less than 24 percent consumer mobile numbers acquired till end Dec. 2017.

PESCO and QESCO were the worst since both could not acquire the mobile numbers of even 2 percent of their total consumers. The drive to obtain mobile numbers was started so that consumers could be sent real time SMS regarding meter reading, status of fault at their feeder etc.

FESCO was the best among all DISCOs regarding no delay in implementation of its billing schedule closely followed by MEPCO.

PESCO and QESCO were the worst with maximum delays of 11 days and 7 days in one of their batches respectively.

In terms of accuracy of meter reading, FESCO and MEPCO were the best with mistakes of only 0.96 percent and 5.94 percent respectively; followed by GEPCO and HESCO.

Worst performers were PESCO and LESCO with mistakes as high as 29.42 percent and 26.6 percent respectively.

Performance of the DISCOs as far as AT&C losses are concerned was very serious and alarming. Worst performers on the basis of financial loss calculated by PITC through AT&C loss for the month of Dec. 2017 were PESCO and QESCO among all 10 DISCOs.

It is estimated that PESCO under CEO Shabbir Ahmed Gilani has incurred a loss of Rs5.828 billion while QESCO under Rehmatullah Baloch has incurred loss of Rs5.829 billion during Dec. 2017.

In PESCO area, the highest loss was incurred by Bannu Circle under the SE Noor Ullah Khan incurring loss of Rs1.641 billion in the month under review.

The worst Divisions were Karak and Bannu-I under XENs Fazal-e-Rabbi and Zaman Khan with respective losses of Rs.230 million and Rs158 million. At the sub-divisional level, the worst were Mattani sub-division under SDO Fazal-e-Malik with a loss of Rs133.12 million, Doaba under SDO Sajid Bahadur with a loss of Rs87.28 million and Bannu Rural-I under SDO Muhammad Atif and Murad Ali with Rs64.26 million.

In QESCO, the highest loss was incurred by Makran CIR Circle under the SE Iqbal Breach with a loss of Rs456.69 million. The worst Divisions were Sibbi and Turbat under XENs Azizullah Rind and Bangul Khan Marri with respective losses of Rs254.6 million and Rs250.34 million. At the sub-divisional level, the worst were Sui sub-division under SDO Abdul Hameed Bugti with a loss of Rs87 million, Lehri under SDO Hussain Bukhsh with a loss of Rs71.56 million and Harnai under SDO Daud Khan with Rs60.9 million.

According to a press release, the CEOs of all DISCOs have been directed to take strong disciplinary actions against respective subordinates as well ensure to undertake whatever it entails under rules to arrest this unsustainable quantum of loss and addition to the circular debt.