The government’s announcement on Wednesday unveiled plans for acomprehensive crackdown on electricity theft, a problem that federalministers claimed had led to substantial financial losses, reachinghundreds of billions of rupees, and contributed to increased bills for theaverage citizen. Power Minister Muhammad Ali and Information MinisterMurtaza Solangi jointly presented these measures during a press conferenceheld in Islamabad.
This initiative comes in the context of a nationwide, robust crackdown onelectricity theft, aimed at curbing the mounting technical and commerciallosses faced by power distribution companies across the country. Theinterim government, responding to public outcry over inflated electricitybills in August, has been exploring its limited options to appease theprotesting citizens who have taken to the streets.
During the news conference, the Power Minister emphasized the prevailingsituation, stating, “In our country, some domestic consumers stealelectricity while others do not pay their bills.” He highlighted theexistence of ten distribution companies (Discos) in Pakistan, withK-Electric managing its own distribution network in Karachi.
Minister Ali provided alarming statistics, revealing that the annual lossesdue to electricity theft and unpaid bills amounted to Rs589 billion. Heunderscored that these losses ultimately lead to higher bills forlaw-abiding citizens, stressing, “Until this problem is eradicated,electricity prices will not decrease.” He also announced that the PrimeMinister had issued directives to crack down on electricity theft andensure bill payments.
Further insights were shared by the minister regarding the varying levelsof losses in different Discos. In cities like Lahore, Faisalabad,Gujranwala, Multan, and Islamabad, where recovery rates were relativelybetter, the total loss amounted to 79 billion units, equivalent to Rs100billion out of a billing total of Rs3,044 billion, approximately 3 percent.
In contrast, Discos in Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta, and Azad Jammuand Kashmir reported losses as high as 60 percent. Minister Ali emphasizedtheir commitment to addressing this issue using data analysis, stating, “Wehave all the data on areas where electricity theft is more and where it isless, we will take steps on the basis of this data.” Their approach wouldinvolve focused efforts in areas with higher electricity theft rates tobring an end to this problem.
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The power minister said the government has communicated with chiefsecretaries and police chiefs in provinces and “we have their full supportin implementing this [plan to curb electricity theft]”.
The measures also include reining in officials who aid the pilferage ofelectricity.
“We have prepared a list of officers who are involved in the theft,” theminister said. “They are being reshuffled and they will be removed fromfield jobs. We have sent the list to the Election Commission of Pakistanfor their approval for the transfers.”
