Daily Times

Sir: I want to draw the attention of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to the deplorable officers of WAPDA Islamabad, who haven’t been delivering Electricity bills to their consumers on time. They have been sending the bills only fifteen days before their due date, leaving many with not enough time to pay them before they are penalized.

This time once again WAPDA were late in distributing bills, with the residents of Iqbal Town in Rawalpindi the most affected. They received their bills only four days before they were due to be paid, and this caused a lot of distress in the community. The people were forced to pay their bills on an urgent basis, inconveniencing many and this is just another example of the terrible practices that have become common place in WAPDA. This is just a tactic for them to charge exorbitant amounts of money in penalty fees that are forced on the citizens that are unable to pay their bills on time.

WAPDA has also been increasing the rate of units every month, without getting approval from the National Assembly first. Only three months ago, the average amount of an electricity bill after the consumption of 300 units was Rs nine per Unit, but now the average rate has gone up to Rs 16 per units. This increase is also expected to continue in the coming months as well, with no checks on its validity or use.

The main reason behind WAPDA’s many shortcomings is the absence of intelligent, well educated and strict administrators. Such people will be beneficial for the efficient running of the entire department, and could help weed out problems, like those faced by the residents of Iqbal Town, in the future. They might also instil the fear of god in the WAPDA workers, and remind them to pay attention to their responsibilities in mature way.

It is my humble request to the current Prime Minister of Pakistan to remove the heads of Wapda, Nepra and IESCO in the best interests of the nation as these people have failed to bring any kind of positive change to their organizations and have instead overseen a worsening of the situation. Without new people in charge, this state of affairs will continue in its current mould, and further destabilize the power and energy sector of our economy.

Lastly WAPDA officers should not be authorized to increase the rate of electricity every month without prior approval from the National Assembly and ensure that all electricity bills are sent to the consumers in the beginning of the month. If the Prime Minister can achieve all of this in the time allotted to him, then I, and the citizens of Pakistan, will be inherently grateful for his contribution.

RAJA GHAZANFAR A K ADOWALIYA

Rawalpindi

Published in Daily Times, July 6^th 2018.