Power Meter bungling exposed
RTI reveals corporation failed to send 600 energy meters to lab for testing
Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, February 10
Pointing a finger at Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for its failure to send the removed or replaced energy meters to the ME lab for testing, a citizen group has demanded a vigilance probe into the bungling which could have caused a massive loss of revenue to the power utility.

On the basis of the information obtained under the RTI Act, the city-based Council of RTI Activists has sent a complaint to the Chairman and Managing Director of the PSPCL against the grave lapse by the officials who failed to send more than 600 energy meters, which had ben removed from the premises of consumers of different categories, to the ME lab for testing in order to detect the tampering of meters.

According to the procedures laid down by the PSPCL, all the removed or replaced energy meters have to be sent to the ME lab within one week for testing in the presence of the consumers, and in case of tampering or broken seals, cases of power theft are made out against the consumers which involve imposition of penalty depending upon the average consumption.

According to the information provided by the Deputy Chief Engineers of East Circle under Central Zone, 180 defective energy meters were still to be sent to the ME lab. Similarly, in the West Circle also 443 energy meters which were removed from Aggar Nagar (158), Janta Nagar (49) and under the APDRP scheme (236) have not been sent to the ME Lab for further testing and subsequent action, if any.

In the complaint lodged with the CEO of the PSPCL, Rohit Sabharwal, president of the the Council of RTI Activists, has apprehended that the failure to send the removed or replaced energy meters to the lab for testing could be due to some ulterior motives of the field staff who might have struck deals with the consumers concerned under the pretext of saving them from the penalty for theft of electricity, and thus causing huge loss of revenue to the PSPCL.

The council has urged the PSPCL top brass to order a vigilance probe so as to fix the responsibility of the guilty officials who failed to get the energy meters tested, which is a statutory requirement, and thereby caused loss of revenue which could have accrued from detection of theft of electricity in the case of tampered energy