ISLAMABAD: The subcommittee-III of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday asked the Ministry of Water and Power to devise a strategy for upgradation of grid stations across the country.
PAC held a meeting at Parliament House, which was chaired by Member of National Assembly (MNA) Sardar Ashiq Hussain Gopang.
Officials of the Ministry of Water and Power briefed PAC about the affairs of distribution companies (DISCOs) along with issues being faced by consumers.
The committee said that upgradation of line and grid stations would lead to the resolution of a number of issues.
The committee was of the view that additional transformers should be provided at the division level and trolley transfers should be doubled at the division level to cater to the problems resulting from faulty transformers.
The committee also observed that transfers and postings are one of the main causes of problems being faced by the department and that locals should not be posted to their own subdivisions. The idea of increasing linemen to facilitate consumers was also put forth.
Regarding solar technology, the committee said that solar technology is highly beneficial for the general public and the ministry should devise a mechanism to calculate the power being generated from solar facilities. It also proposed abolition of duties on solar equipment.
Officials of the Ministry of Water and Power informed the committee that mobile meter reading system was introduced in 2014, following which DISCOs issued power bills to consumer with images of meter readings. This resulted in a reduction of issues pertaining to over-billing, leading to consumer satisfaction.
They said that load shedding would end by 2018 due to government initiatives and policies.
Officials said that grid stations would be upgraded under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded projects. They said that government had also initiated projects to reduce the cost of power generation.
It was also informed that the government had reduced duties on solar panels for the benefit of consumers.
They further said that bifurcation of feeders was underway and transmission lines would also be upgraded, and added that a safety committee had been constituted to upgrade hanging wires on a priority basis. They said that work would be started in December on the pilot project. The implementation of this project would help reduce accidents by 90 percent.
Referring to faulty transformers, the ministry officials said that trolley transformers would be provided within six hours in case a transformer fails.
