Private housing society Bahria Town against the directions of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) illegally collected 906 million rupees from its residents in context of the power charges. According to details, Bahria Town charged its electricity consumers with Rs4 per unit additional rates against the tariff assigned by NEPRA.The NEPRA ordered IESCO to canceled distribution license of private housing society Bahria Town Pvt Ltd and to take over the management but the orders were not implemented due to which the consumers suffered loss of millions of rupees. The audit directed IESCO to move the court against the illegal practice to receive back the additional amount surcharged by the housing society.

As per the official audit documents, during the audit of GSO IESCO, it was observed that the Bahria Town Private Limited was overcharging its power consumers with Rs.4 per unit which caused an additional burden of Rs906 million on the consumers. NEPRA had canceled the distribution license of BTPL on October 20, 2020. Nepra directed ISCO to take over BTPL's electricity network and enter into an operation and maintenance contract with BTPL but IESCO did not comply with the orders. The issue of additional charges from power consumers by private housing society was raised with IESCO management in August 2022 and also reported to concerned ministry in December 2022. However, the IESCO management replied that the case was under hearing. The DAC on January 02, 2023 directed the management to take up the case and vigorously follow it.(M.Awais)

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)