Last month, the power utility LESCO issued highly inflated bills in an apparent attempt to meet targets for its close of the financial year. In these bills, the highest slab rates had been imposed on consumers for the units not even consumed. That is the easiest and most unjust way to mint money from poor customers of the utility. I visited the local LESCO office in Johar Town area and found out that I was not the only affected consumer; there were many, far too many others that had arrived with the same complaint. It seems that in order to cover up for their own inefficiency, mismanagement and corruption, the officials of utility had tried to meet their targets through unfair means. Why dont our utilities, PEPCO and its affiliated organisations, set their house in order? Why dont they recover their long-outstanding dues, believed to be in multiple billions, from various government organisations/authorities? Why dont they take the necessary steps to minimise line losses? Why dont they take to task the people who steal electricity by using 'kundas? Officials of PEPCO keep telling us that there are hundreds of thousands of their thieving consumers that use 'kundas in Karachi and many other cities. They deprive the PEPCO of very huge sums of money. Instead of taking concrete remedial measures to eradicate theft and other transmission losses, the utility rates are increased by tonne-loads every now and then to meet financial targets of the power company whose own incompetence and corruption also gets covered up in the process. -ENAAM-E.-HANID, Lahore, July 10.