Empowering Consumers

“We used to pay an excessive amount of money for our electricity and gas bills. Now, with the help of TheNetwork for Consumer Protection, we are not only able to read our gas and electricity bills, but also know where to complain in case of any issue,” says Qasim Jan, a 60-year-old low income farmer from Mohallah Hasanzai Bar Thakal Village in District Peshawar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

TheNetwork for Consumer Protection –  a CSO implementing a project on consumer rights in the area under USAID’s Citizens’ Voice Project  – held a consumer mobilization session in Qasim Jan’s locality. He and nine of his fellow villagers were trained to read and understand electricity and gas bills, as well as understand the process for lodging complaints related to them. A well-respected elder of the village, Qasim Jan was initially reluctant to allow TheNetwork to conduct this capacity-building session. However, since the mobilization effort, Qasim Jan has started working as the President of the group and has organized two more sessions on the same subject to further educate and familiarize the community on gas and electricity bills.

Qasim Jan has also taken initiative to collect and put forward complaints regarding gas and electricity bills to the regional offices of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO). “We were totally unaware about our rights. Now, because of TheNetwork, we know about our rights and from now on, I will collect the bills from my ‘mohallah’ (neighborhood) and will file complaints if any.”