LAHORE: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) is all set to receive online applications for new electricity connections from March 15 (tomorrow).

The system will not only receive applications, but also facilitate applicants with information about status of their requests, issuance and submission of demand notices and provision of connections.

“After receiving the applications, we will try our best to issue demand notices and provide electricity connections to people within 15 to 20 days,” Lesco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mujahid Pervaiz Chattha told Dawn on Tuesday. “A demand notice will be issued within seven working days,” he added.

Disposal of applications related to new connections is one of the key performance indicators (KPIs) set by the Ministry of Energy (power division) to evaluate performance of the power distribution companies (Discos). Other KPIs included mobile meter reading and its implementation status, registration of consumers’ mobile phone numbers, billing schedule and delay, variance in meter reading, impact on line losses, overall financial impact, accuracy certificate from field officers/officials, number of defective meters, meters required and progress on development works.

According to official sources, there was a backlog of over one million applications till December 2017 for new connections and replacement of defective meters in all 10 Discos.

“In a meeting held on Dec 22, the Discos’ chiefs had told federal minister (power division) Awais Leghari about the issue, stating that they needed about a million meters every month to clear the backlog and dispose of future applications,” a source said.

Meanwhile, a Lesco spokesperson in a press release claimed that this year’s summer would be much comfortable for consumers as the company established various 132kV grid stations, upgraded the 66kV stations to 132kV, replaced bus bars of several stations and replaced the old transformers with new ones.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018