CHITRAL: The consumers of electricity in the valley of Laspur in Upper Chitral felt relieved of the worries of inflated bills due to the introduction of prepaid power meters.
The consumers got their power cards recharged in the nearby retailer shop by the amount of their choice whose balance is shown in the screen of the power meter with consumption of electricity. The power supply to the building gets disconnected the moment the balance in the card drops to zero.
The area of Chitral happened to be the first in the country where pre-paid power meter technology was introduced to the exclusion of the processes of meter reading, bill distribution and payment of bills in the bank branches.
The Aga Khan Rural Support Program had established the hydro power station in Laspur (500 kW) many years ago and its management is undertaken by the community-based ‘utility company’ which decided to switch over to the latest technology of power metering.
The residents of Laspur said that the system of pre-paid meters was a great boon for them which made the process simple for them on one hand and enabled the consumers to use the electricity exactly according to their capacity.
Manzoor Ali Shah, the head of the community-based utility company of Laspur valley, said that the power meters left no room for outstanding amounts against the consumers thereby making the management run the affairs of the organization efficiently and smoothly due to the availability of funds. .. Source