Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari has urged the World Bank for provision of funds and investment for installation of smart meters at the Distribution Level Transformers.

He was talking to visiting World Bank Vice President for South Asian Region Martin Raiser, who met him along with a delegation in Islamabad today.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said smart meters are being installed at domestic and grid level to ensure transparency and management of peak load demand.

The Minister also invited the World Bank to invest in the Public Private Partnership mode in the smart metering in LESCO and MEPCO. He informed that these Distribution Companies are next in the privatization list.

The Minister informed the delegation that due to ‘Bijli Sahulat Package’ there was seven percent increase in Power Consumption in the industrial Sector last month as compared to the same period previous year. He said that this indicates an appetite by the consumers for any future auction of surplus electricity in the country.

The World Bank's Vice President supported the Installation of Smart Meter at Distribution Level Transformers and informed the meeting that bank's team can work out its details with the stakeholders.