18 recommendations to overcome electricity theft and losses: Senate body to DISCOs

The Sub-Committee of Senate Standing Committee on Power Division on Wednesday directed Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Power Distribution Companies (DISCOs) for making the companies profitable and observed more load-management in areas of over 80 per cent losses.

The committee which met with Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak in the chair to discuss the line losses and theft of electricity and suggest technical and administrative measures to eliminate theft in DISCOs and viability of outsourcing of high-loss feeders.

Nauman Wazir said the boards of distribution companies must be an independent and there should be no political pressure.

He said there should be no electricity to the power pilferers and the CEOs should be free to carry out load-shedding as per recovery and line losses.

The Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) CEO apprised the Senate panel that over 80 per cent of its feeders were in 90 per cent losses.

The committee proposed 18 recommendations to overcome losses and eliminate theft in DISCOs and outsourcing of high-loss feeders were also discussed in the meeting.

The recommendations are included outsourcing of metering, billing and collection of bill amount, converting  all bare conductors in high loss areas to underground cables, appointment of Board of Directors (BoDs) on merit and at least two years CEOs posting tenure.

The ministry is also asked to present a plan for offloading the DISCOs to the provincial government and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) to be taken as a test case. It is also recommended that at least 200 police officials and two magistrate should be given to DISCOs and their expenses to be paid by the companies.

Nauman Wazir said PESCO suffered around Rs40 billion loss due to power theft and line losses during the last few months.

An official of University of Engineering Peshawar told the committee that Chinese State owned company showed interest to make investment of $1 billion in PESCO on 50-50 per cent profit sharing.

The meeting was attended by Senator Auragzeb Khan, Secretary Power Division, GM NTDCL and other senior officials. CEOs of other companies participated in the meeting through video-link.

(APP)