Consumers resist replacement of old power meters

BOONI, Jan 20: The power utility company, SHYDO, has started replacing all old electricity meters in upper Chitral but the consumers are resisting the move. The residents said SHYDO had started removing the old meters from houses and were asking the consumers to pay Rs.3,000 for the new meters which would be installed by the company. They said it was due to the negligence of the SHYDO officials that the meters stopped functioning properly. Despite prolonged laodshedding, they added, SHYDO sent them bills and now was asking them to replace the meters in order to conceal their inefficiency. On the other hand, the SHYDO officials said due to the faulty and outdated meters, the company was facing losses. They said due to the out-of-order meters, the consumers were sent estimated bills of about Rs.75 per month. Because of the fixed bills, the consumers misused electricity and put extra load on the company’s system. Now the people were not ready to pay the Rs.3,000 cost of the new meters and also wanted to utilize electricity by paying only Rs.75 per month.]]>