ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) led by Acting President Azhar ul Islam Zafar met IESCO officials including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Engineer and others to discuss the pressing electricity problems faced by domestic and commercial consumers. He stressed the need for IESCO to modernize its infrastructure to modern standards so that the issues are resolved on a priority basis.
The ICCI delegation expressed displeasure with the performance of distribution companies, particularly with IESCO’s refusal to repair commercial transformers, adding to the woes of an already suffering business community.
The founder chairman of the group, Khalid Iqbal Malik, emphasized that the replacement and repair of faulty transformers is the sole responsibility of IESCO and the company’s reluctance to do so is unwarranted, especially considering the high electricity costs borne by businesses during peak hours.
All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajraan President Ajmal Baloch pointed out that the former head of IESCO has pledged that the company is responsible for repairing all transformers installed before 2008. He pointed out that although commercial tariffs are double the rates of households and businesses with the highest consumption of electricity costs during peak hours, IESCO refuses to take responsibility for the repair of commercial transformers, which is unjustified and contrary to its previous commitments. He also expressed his concern over the fact that IESCO is fixing and changing all transformations in its jurisdiction except those in the CDA jurisdiction.
The IESCO Director of Operations assured the delegation that the genuine problems of the business sector would be addressed on priority, a survey of old transformers would be conducted, a committee comprising members of the business community and IESCO officials would be formed to find a viable solution to the problem.
The objective of the meeting was to find solutions to the long-term problems faced by consumers and to improve IESCO’s performance to meet customer satisfaction.
The ICCI delegation also included SVP Faizan Shahzad, Acting Vice President Dr. Mohammad Usman, Former SVP Khalid Chaudhry, Executive Member Maqsood Tabish, Nasir Chaudhry, Irfan Chaudhry and others.
