The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) has begun charging consumers found stealing electricity the full cost of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) smart meter, replacing the lower static meter charge previously applied in such cases.
Under the new policy, consumers found tampering with or manipulating single-phase meters to steal electricity will receive a demand notice of Rs14,400 for an AMI smart single-phase meter.
The company has already started issuing notices at this rate. Until now, consumers in tampering cases were billed for a static meter, with a demand notice of Rs5,500. The new charge is Rs8,900 higher.
LESCO has replaced static meters with AMI smart single-phase meters in its demand notices for tampering and theft cases.