The Sindh government is reluctant to clear the outstanding electricity dues of Rs 12 billion of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation (Hesco), and insists that the bills are inflated and based on average, it is learnt. According to sources, the utility had long been waiting for payment of all electric bills but the Sindh government officials were saying that the bills were inflated, based on wrong figures.
The utility also failed to prove that the bills it had issued were correct and based on meter reading, they said. The officials of Sindh government, led by consultant Ashfaque Hussain Shah and Chief Executive Officer Hesco Karim Bux Qureshi had been negotiating to resolve the matter but of no avail. The provincial government had presented all the details of inflated bills.
However, Hesco officials were of the view that the relevant records had been destroyed during riots on Benazir Bhutto's assassination, sources said. They said that the Hesco was claiming outstanding dues worth Rs 12 billion pending against the provincial government, from January 2005 to January 2008, adding that it also pressurised the provincial authorities through federal government time and again to clear the dues.
Sources said that the utility had issued bills of Rs 100 million to water supply and sewerage projects at Matli and Hali Road. It also dispatched two electricity bills of Rs 100 million to the Cattle Colony of Hyderabad, which is under construction and has not started proper functioning. The Hesco is still issuing 25 percent deduction bills to all provincial departments of Sindh government working in interior parts of the province and imposing 10 percent charges on the bills after expiry of the date dates, they said.
The provincial government is seeking centre's intervention to amicably resolve the matter, they said and added that Hesco authorities did not cooperate to reach a settlement. According to sources, there are some 27,000 electricity meters installed at the Sindh government's offices in the interior parts except Karachi and the authorities of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) had issued inflated bills of Rs 10.5 billions, they said.