‘Bahria Town illegally collects Rs906 million from electricity consumers’

ISLAMABAD, (INP): The private housing society Bahria Town has collected Rs906 million from its residents under the header of power charges, going against the directions of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).

Bahria Town charged additional Rs4 per unit from electricity consumers against the tariff set by the NEPRA.

The NEPRA had ordered the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) to cancel the distribution licence of Bahria Town Pvt Ltd and take over the management, but the orders were not implemented, causing consumers to suffer losses of millions of rupees.

The NEPRA had directed the IESCO to take legal action against this unlawful practice to recover the extra amount charged by the housing society. The NEPRA had cancelled the distribution licence of Bahria Town Pvt Ltd on October 20, 2020.

The NEPRA had directed the ISCO to take over Bahria Town Pvt Ltd’s electricity network and enter into an operation and maintenance contract with it but the IESCO did not comply with the orders.

Read more: Power privilege: thousands of officials enjoy free electricity worth billions

As per the official audit documents, during the audit of GSO IESCO, it was observed that Bahria Town Private Limited was overcharging its power consumers with Rs4 per unit which caused an additional burden of Rs906 million on the consumers.

The issue of additional charges from power consumers by the private housing society was raised with IESCO management in August 2022 and also reported to the ministry concerned in December 2022.

However, the IESCO management replied that the case was under hearing. The Departmental Accounting Committee (DAC) on January 02, 2023, directed the IESCO management to vigorously follow the case.