Massive crackdown against power theft yielding significant results: Minister

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Power and Energy, Muhammad Ali on Friday said the massive crackdown against power theft was yielding significant results.

Addressing a press conference along with Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi and Caretaker Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar, he said, the drive against power theft was not for a limited time period, but it would continue in the future as well to expedite and expand its scope.

Earlier this month, the interim set-up launched a “full force” crackdown against electricity theft across the country to tame multiplying technical and commercial losses being faced by the power distribution companies.

“We are working with all the law enforcement agencies on the district level and the pace of the process will be fastened,” the minister added. Along with theft, the minister highlighted, the government was also working on bringing improvement in the management and governance of electricity distribution companies.

The minister said the government was working on a comprehensive plan to change the Board of Governors of the Distribution Companies.

He said the CEOs of the DISCOs would also be reshuffled to improve their governance and capacity, adding the government was also exploring three options to improve the performance of the power distribution companies. These included working with the World Bank for long-term concessions and privatizing the companies, he added. “We are looking at all three options and we will work on the best one,” he added.

Muhammad Ali said steps were being taken to check electricity theft and pass on the minimum burden of the increased prices of electricity bills to the consumers. The minister said Power Sector had a total Circular Debt of Rs 2500 billion while the Circular Debt of the Gas Sector was Rs 2900 billion.

He said the government was making efforts to manage this huge Circular Debt. He said that the government was taking practical steps to ensure availability of gas in the winter season. The minister said that the government was expediting the efforts for exploration of new oil and gas reserves as no significant attention was paid to this sector during the past ten years. He said the ministry had established a Central Control Room in the Power Division to monitor the ongoing campaign against power theft.(APP)