Daily Times

Gas consumers in Lahore received inflated bills from the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), a private TV channel reported on Sunday citing sources.

According to sources, the power distributing company sent on average Rs 15,000 to Rs 90,000 bills to gas consumers and Rs 2000 was added to the bill in terms of fixed charges. The SNGPL sources said that gas is expensive across the world and Pakistan also added the gas tariff and other taxes.

Earlier, the power division confessed to overbilling consumers, changing their slabs and damaging meters. The initial report on the NEPRA investigation report revealed concerning findings, indicating that over 4.5 million consumers received bills exceeding 31 days. Additionally, a staggering 381,510 damaged meters have resulted in excessive bills. In July, 846,468 consumers were affected as their slabs were changed with nearly, 2 lac protected consumers moved to the non-protected category.

The situation worsened in August, with over 5.574 million consumers receiving bills exceeding 31 days. A significant 825,562 power consumers were affected by changes in billing slabs during this period. Furthermore, the Power division has criticized the NEPRA team’s process, deeming it ineffective and flawed. The report has loopholes related to quality control and data processing. The development came after the Nepra exposed the “most controversial power theft drive” of the power distribution companies (Discos), defrauding consumers of billions of rupees by overcharging them as much as 100 percent.