ISLAMABAD:
Auditors told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday that power distribution companies had generated over Rs 8 billion in revenue through overcharging.
The apex parliamentary committee met under the acting chairmanship of Shahida Akhtar Ali to review audit objections relating to the Electricity Division for the financial year 2022-23.
Audit officials told the committee that consumers were being charged for units they had not consumed, leading to losses exceeding Rs 8 billion. They said overcharging was detected at over a thousand ATMs across several DISCOs.
Officials identified total financial irregularities amounting to Rs8.727 billion across the division. They said that over Rs9.34 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 rate relief or rate relief between 2018 and 2023, even though the relief was only for disconnected users.
They added that meter readers often did not visit sites to record actual readings.
The Power Division Secretary told the committee that much of the required documentation was not available during the audit.
