Authorities on Monday told a parliamentary panel that the circular debt faced by the country has increased to Rs795 Billion, but the efforts of power companies to curb electricity losses were paying off.
Secretary Energy Irfan Elahi briefed a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Naveed Qamar over the progress of the power sector. “Among four DISCOs – Kesco, Hesco, Pesco and Sepco – Pesco faces the most losses while Sepco faces the least, 13%, loss. However, we will bring an end to electricity theft,” he said.
He also added that subsidy will be part of the upcoming budget.
Pesco officials told the panel that most cases of power theft surfaced from Khyber Pakhtunkwa’s (K-P) Charsadda and Mardan districts. They said that FIR has been registered against several involved in power theft.
Irfan said that power theft in Punjab was mainly due through tampering of electricity metres while in Sindh and KP, direct connections (Kundas) were being practised.
Energy Minister Omar Ayub on Saturday said that the government aims to bring the circular debt down to zero from Rs450 billion by December 2020.
The government is planning to recover Rs300 billion from electricity “defaulters and thieves”, Omar Ayub said in a press conference, adding that power companies had been able to recover Rs81bn from private defaulters over the past eight months of the current fiscal year.
Secretary Energy Irfan Elahi briefed a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Naveed Qamar over the progress of the power sector. “Among four DISCOs – Kesco, Hesco, Pesco and Sepco – Pesco faces the most losses while Sepco faces the least, 13%, loss. However, we will bring an end to electricity theft,” he said.
He also added that subsidy will be part of the upcoming budget.
Pesco officials told the panel that most cases of power theft surfaced from Khyber Pakhtunkwa’s (K-P) Charsadda and Mardan districts. They said that FIR has been registered against several involved in power theft.
Irfan said that power theft in Punjab was mainly due through tampering of electricity metres while in Sindh and KP, direct connections (Kundas) were being practised.
Energy Minister Omar Ayub on Saturday said that the government aims to bring the circular debt down to zero from Rs450 billion by December 2020.
The government is planning to recover Rs300 billion from electricity “defaulters and thieves”, Omar Ayub said in a press conference, adding that power companies had been able to recover Rs81bn from private defaulters over the past eight months of the current fiscal year.