The government announced plans on Wednesday to launch a crackdown on electricity theft, which federal ministers said lead to combined losses of hundreds of billions of rupees and higher bills for the common citizen.
Power Minister Muhammad Ali and Information Minister Murtaza Solangi made the announcement and outlined the measures they would be taking during a press conference in Islamabad.
It comes amid a “full force” crackdown planned against electricity theft across the country to tame mounting technical and commercial losses being faced by the power distribution companies.
The interim government, facing the ire of agitated masses over inflated electricity bills in August, has been mulling its options — although limited — to placate the people who have been out on streets across the country.
“The background is that in our country, some domestic consumers steal electricity and others don’t pay bills,” the power minister said in today’s news conference as Solangi looked on.
He began by specifying that there are 10 distribution companies, or Discos, in Pakistan at present and K-Electric, which provides the utility to Karachi, has its own distribution network.
“In every area, there are varying levels of theft and there are different percentages of recovery [payments],” Ali said, revealing that the annual loss due to electricity theft and failure to pay bills is Rs589 billion.
He said because of the electricity thieves and those who refuse to pay bills, others have to pay higher bills. “Until this is stopped, electricity prices will not come down,” the minister added.
He announced that the prime minister has issued directives to “crack down on this — end electricity theft and [ensure] recovery from those who don’t pay bills”.
The minister said the total loss in the Discos where recovery is relatively better than the rest of the country — in Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and Islamabad — amounted to 79 billion units, which amounts to a loss of Rs100bn out of billing of Rs3,044bn, estimated at 3pc.
The Discos in Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta and Azad Jammu and Kashmir had losses as high as 60pc, Ali said, explaining that his purpose was to inform the people which suppliers were recording higher losses.
“We have all the data on areas where electricity theft is more and where it is less, we will take steps on the basis of this data,” he announced.
“In areas where electricity theft is greater, we will pay more attention there and initiate a crackdown to end electricity theft.”
For this purpose, the government is taking various steps, he said. “Where theft is less — up to 30pc — we will curb it through technological intervention.
“Where the loss is 30-60pc, we are considering whether we should involve the private sector in management,” Ali added. “For areas [where losses are] above 60pc, we will take enforcement measures,” he said.
The minister also mentioned government plans to improve the management of Discos. “We are looking at their board of governors; we will make changes in those and the management.”
