ISLAMABAD:
Auditors told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday that electricity distribution companies had extracted more than Rs8 billion in revenue through over-invoicing.
The top parliamentary committee met under the interim chairmanship of Shahida Akhtar Ali to review audit objections relating to the Power Division for the financial year 2022-23.
Audit officials told the committee that consumers were being charged for units they did not consume, causing losses of over Sh8 billion. Rs. They said over-billing was detected on more than a thousand feeders across several DISCOs.
The officials identified total financial irregularities of Rs 8.727 billion across the division. They said more than Rs 9.34 billion had already been recovered.
According to the audit findings, four DISCOs had issued unauthorized refunds worth Rs 9.14 billion to consumers. Auditors found that 293,572 active consumers received plate or rate relief between 2018 and 2023, although such relief was only intended for disconnected users.
They added that meter readers often did not visit websites to record actual readings.
The Power Division secretary told the committee that much of the required documentation had not been available during the audit.
