KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said that like the federal government, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has also failed in protecting the rights of the people.

Kamal said power distribution companies across the country are fraudulently making bills of 35 to 37 days instead of 30 days, thereby increasing the billing slab and robbing the already inflation-hit consumers though charging heavy bills, while the regulator has turned the blind eye to this scam.

Addressing a corner meeting in Malir, he said until the power transmission licenses are issued to more than one company in all parts of the country, the rights of the people will continue to be violated. Kamal said that there is a need to end the monopoly of power distribution companies by allowing other market players to enter into power sector for the supply electricity to consumers in the style of cellular companies operating in the country.

Consumer rights cannot be protected unless consumers have the option to choose another company as a result of load shedding, poor service, or over-billing, he added. He further said that there was no other solution than the solution proposed by PSP and added that longer the government takes time to implement our presented solutions, the more the country and the nation will suffer.

Mustafa Kamal added that it is Nepra’s worst incompetence to look at over-billing complaints as individual complaints of consumers.

Nepra must monitor the performance of all power companies and ensure protection of consumer rights, he demanded. Pushing towards the Nepra office for a minor complaint costs consumers more time and more petrol, he said adding the distribution companies are taking advantage of this while Nepra is a silent spectator.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021