LAHORE:A major scandal has been exposed at the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) involving widespread fraudulent practices where employees recorded ‘paper-only’ resolutions for consumer complaints.
These irregularities were originally identified through monitoring data from the Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC), which took serious notice of the systematic manipulation of the complaint management system.
According to documents, investigations by the DG (Implementation) revealed that Lesco staff were marking complaints as resolved without performing any actual field work, misusing mobile application location features, and fabricating data to conceal operational failures.
The misconduct includes registering multiple complaints using the same mobile number and lodging repeated complaints against identical reference numbers to mask recurring outages, as per findings.
It is learnt that the practice of wrongfully giving impression about resolving complaints diligently has been going on years after years by different power utilities, including Lesco.The PPMC’s audit highlighted that Lesco employees frequently used their own personal or official mobile numbers to file complaints without the knowledge of the consumers. This allowed staff to control the lifecycle of a complaint from start to finish within the digital system, without resolving it on the ground.
The investigation identified a pattern of cases being closed within unrealistically short timeframes—sometimes mere seconds—which made physical rectification or travel to the site physically impossible. This practice resulted in significant consumer dissatisfaction, as chronic load-shedding and technical faults remained unaddressed despite being falsely recorded as successfully resolved on the PITC and CCMS+ portals.
In response to these external findings, the Lesco Board of Directors’chairman expressed strong displeasure over the management’s handling of the system and directed the enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy. New mandatory protocols have been introduced, according to a document dated April 01, 20206,requiring physical verification of every complaint resolution and the implementation of random spot-checks. To ensure future accountability, Circle Managers are now required to submit a weekly certificate to the DG confirming the authenticity of all resolved complaints.
Any official found circumventing the system or providing false information will face strict disciplinary action under the established Efficiency and Discipline (E&D) rules to ensure that such malpractice does not recur.
To address these issues, Lesco has initiated a strategic review and operational alignment of its digital tracking systems, including E-Ops and CCMS+. The Manager of the Complaint Cell is scheduled to conduct ‘Field performance evaluation & technical guidance sessions’ across all circles throughout April 2026, to streamline handling procedures. Attendance for these sessions is mandatory for all relevant staff, and any deviations will be treated as professional lapses.
The management has pledged to eliminate such malpractices, uphold system integrity, and improve complaint handling procedures to prevent future anomalies. Field officers, including Executive Engineers (XENs), Sub-Divisional Officers (SDOs), and Line Superintendents, have been warned that every resolution is being tracked by external monitors and that any adverse reporting will be their personal responsibility. This directive emphasises proactive management and requires field formations to recognise that transparency is essential for restoring consumer trust.
The exposure of this scam underscores the urgent need for accountability in power utilities’s operations. By enforcing stricter monitoring and mandatory physical verification, the company aims to ensure that electricity users receive genuine relief and that the integrity of the power distribution network is maintained. This comprehensive reform seeks to align distribution companies or DISCO’s internal operations with the high standards of transparency expected by the PPMC and the federal government.
