MULTAN, March 9th: Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO)has declared all the 129 Industrial feeders as load shedding free and there is no power-shutdown in Industrial sector in Multan region,said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MEPCO Masud Salahuddin while addressing the member of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) Chaired by Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi. He said that there would be no or minimum load shedding in 2018 , a year of happiness and prosperity.He said we have recommended to enhance the powers of board of directors of MEPCO so that all issues could be resolved locally. He said that disputes with agriculture sector have already been resolved and they are making payments of their outstanding bills. Work in progress on more than 300 feeders of11 KV which would be completed during the current fiscal year.To a Question a said that pre-paid meter installation programme was being finalised while installation of AMR meters would begin during current year.He told that Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) has caught 333,755 power pilferers and imposed over Rs 1.9 billion fine on them across the region. Various teams raided residential and commercial buildings and detected electricity stealing. The teams also recovered Rs 644 million from the power thieves from July 2016 to January 2017. Chairman of MEPCO board of Directors Khalid Masud disclosed the MEPCO has introduced a new policy for the replacement or repair of transformers under which consumers will have to deposit one third of the cost instead of payment of whole amount in advance and Transformer would be replaced within 12 hours and its guarantee would be for a year. In his welcome address MCCI President Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi complained that power load shedding was increasing with the change of weather and MEPCO should take measures to supply electricity uninterruptedly during summer season.He further said that MEPCO should ensure regular supply of electricity to agriculture as well as SME sector.He said that load shedding with intervals was harmful to both sectors. He suggested that power generating units be commissioned or upgraded before running them and power tariff must be reduced to provide a relief to the consumers.
