LAHORE: The entire Lahore region, which consists of 6.7 million electricity consumers, is to be shifted to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) by 2029, as the departments concerned of Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) are being aligned with each other these days.

On the other hand, the installation of smart meters on the applications related to three-phase meter connections has begun, paving the way to enable the Lesco to shift all three-phase domestic, commercial, and industrial connections to the smart metering system, Dawn has learnt.

“As we have 6.7 million connections, most of them domestic ones, it is not possible for us to shift all these to a smart metering system in a short time; we need at least five years, from now onward, to do so. This is why we have devised a plan to shift the entire Lesco region to the new system, which will completely end the menace of overbilling, in the next five years till 2029,” Lesco Chief Executive Officer Shahid Haider told Dawn on Sunday.

According to him, Lesco has so far replaced over 60,000 meters with smart ones at small industries and tube wells. Similarly, about 56,000 more connections would be replaced with smart meters very soon.

“And from July 1st, 2024 onward, we have been installing AMI meters on each domestic three-phase connection,” he said.

It may be mentioned that Lesco had, in 2018, decided to expand the scope of the smart metering project after completion of the pilot project by replacing the meters of 18,000 consumers in various sub-divisions/areas, including Faizpur, Rachna Town, Bilal Ganj, Sharaqpur, Angoori Bagh and Taj Bagh.

The first-of-its-kind project aims at facilitating the consumers in knowing about meter reading anytime of the day, even on an hourly or a half-hourly basis, instead of a month, besides enabling the Discos to automatically receive the monthly reading.

The AMI meters automatically transfer the reading data to the control room (main server) on the exact meter reading date and time, enabling the officials to quickly process and send bills to the consumers. Since the system also allows power distribution companies to receive and check reading on a daily basis, it minimizes the chances of corruption (overbilling, tampering, etc.) by ending the obsolete manual reading system.

The CEO said that under a grant provided by the Asian Development Bank, Lesco would be provided as many as 131,000 smart meters that will enable Lesco to replace over 35,000 domestic connections with the AMI metering in the next few months.

He said the shortage of single-phase meters has been almost overcome. The Lesco field formations have been provided meters for 19,000 new connections and 30,000 for replacing the defective ones. Around 80,000 more meters would be provided to the field offices within this week. Moreover, around 300,000 of the total 750,000 ordered by Lesco to manufacturing firms are likely to be received by the end of this month.

Mr. Haider said he has also accorded permission to procure smart meters (single-phase) with immediate effect on which the officers concerned have started work. And soon, the tenders would be floated in this regard, he believed.

MODERNIZATION: Lesco has established two Customer Services Centres in Lahore to facilitate the maximum number of consumers at a single place. One centre is located in the Second Circle, while the other is situated in the Fifth Circle. The official inauguration of these centers is scheduled for this month, after which residents in these areas will no longer need to travel to the headquarters for assistance with their issues.

The newly constructed customer service centers will offer a range of services similar to those available at the Central Customer Service Center in Lesco, including bill corrections, installment plans, and extensions on due dates, among other facilities.

During a visit to the newly built customer service centers on Sunday, Mr Haider, according to a press release, reviewed the services being offered and other operational matters. He emphasized that serving the public is our foremost duty, and all resources and efforts will be utilized to fulfill this obligation. The Lesco chief executive also stated that a trained staff of international standards would be deployed at the new customer service centers to ensure the best possible service for customers.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2025