Among 664 defective metres, 229 are in SEPCO, 146 in LESCO, 107 in HESCO, 56 in QESCO, 34 in PESCO, 34 in GEPCO, 15 in K-Electric, 10 in FESCO, 7 in MEPCO, and 6 in IESCO.
Power Distribution Companies (Discos) have been accused by Chinese Mobile Company CMPAK Limited (Zong) of massively overcharging through defective metres, which has had a negative impact on the company’s financial position given the country’s current economic climate.
Lu Jianhui, the Chief Technical Officer of CMPAK Limited (Zong), informed Power Division of the problematic situation in a letter.
The company stated that it is a corporate customer as a result of its engagement in a prepaid/advance billing agreement with all distributors, including K-Electric, since 2007. The agreement has 9800 connections operating under the control of the distributors and an average monthly billing of about Rs 1.75 billion.
Contrarily, the company is experiencing difficulties replacing defective meters as well as a lack of cooperation from Disco field offices, which has a negative impact on the billing done by field offices by charging extra units while failing to take into account the load position and consumption history of the connections against defective meters and the current status of Defective Metres in each Disco due to the aging of these meters.
Among the 664 defective metres, 229 are in SEPCO, 146 in LESCO, 107 in HESCO, 56 in QESCO, 34 in PESCO, 34 in GEPCO, 15 in K-Electric, 10 in FESCO, 7 in MEPCO, and 6 in IESCO.
The company claims that 105 metres are defective for periods longer than a year, 273 for periods between six and twelve months, and 266 for periods between one and six months.
According to Lu Jianhui, Chief Technical Officer, Zong, “This situation of non-replacement of defective metres is very alarming and as a result millions of units are overcharged under the flimsy excuse of non-availability of metres in Discos which otherwise are affecting CMPAK Ltd to meet its financial commitments in introducing new innovations in the telecom industry.”
The company asserted that the nation’s economy, which is currently in a state of rapid change, has put great strain on its operations and that the failure to replace defective metres has had a negative impact on the company’s financial position given the current economic climate.
With the research and expertise of China Mobile Communication Corporation, a State-owned corporation in China, in mind, CMPAK Limited is also determined to introduce new innovations in the telecom industry in the form of 5G.
The company expressed its hope that collaboration and assistance from distributors would result in positive outcomes and advantages for the government entities.
The CMPAK Limited has requested that Discos be advised to ensure:(i) replacement of defective metres at the earliest in order to apprise its networking system already providing technical service to different Government departments as well as the public; (ii) charging units against defective metres as per running road of metre or the consumption of the active metre before declaring “EST-DEF”; and (iii) in cases of non-availability of metres in some Discos, NOC may be issued to the CMPAK by concerned Discos for purchase of metres from their approved vendors.