Actions against electricity thieves will continued M Amjad Khan.
Rs 46 bln recovered from power pilferers during anti power theft drive,Secretary Power Division
Islamabad_ According to a statement by CEO during the ongoing campaign launched in November, Excellent results are being achieved during the ongoing campaign to clear IESCO region from the scourge of electricity theft. According to the details, IESCO’s operation M&T and surveillance teams are taking full action against electricity theft. During the month of November 2023, 41,000 meters of different tariffs are being checked across the region. More than 0.47 million units were charged and fines of more than 21 million were imposed on electricity thieves. 3 electricity thieves have also been arrested by the police by registering 21 FIRs
IESCO Chief Executive Dr. Muhammad Amjad Khan said that electricity thieves do not deserve any relaxation because they are causing irreparable damage to the people and institutions of the country and he along with his teams will clear IESCO from the scourge of electricity theft.
Secretary Power Division Rashid Langrial on Sunday said that an amount of Rs 46 billion has been recovered from the power pilferers from September 7 to October 31 during the ongoing anti-power theft campaign.
“Today as the results for the first two months (53 days to be exact) are out, I must put things in perspective.
Our estimated annual losses across the national grid for the current year are Rs 589 billion. Of total Rs 589, roughly Rs 199 billion come from ex-FTA, Balochistan tube-wells and AJK,” he revealed on a social media handle.
These areas are not the focus of this campaign because of their own peculiarities, he said and added that AJK collects its own bills but does not pay us at the same rate because it sees it as a contractually disputed payment; ex-FATA because they are exempted from meters due to a policy of appeasement in the wake of integration and Balochistan tube-wells on account of various factors, least of which is not the enforcement challenge.
He said, “We are working on the remaining problem space of Rs 390 billion of which we are able to recover Rs 46 billion in 53 days i.e. PKR 867 million per day. If the same level of state support and field effort can be maintained (and that is a big if, I must admit), 80 % of the problem space gets resolved”.
The secretary said they were conscious of the challenge of sustaining the drive beyond the campaign but they have demonstrated beyond doubt that there was nothing that could not be resolved with the right mix of state’s will and field effort. “That day, we promised that no one will be spared, high or mighty; sacred or not-so-sacred” he said.
He went on to say that we have reshuffled, suspended, prosecuted even arrested our staff at a scale never seen before; put thieves behind bars at a rate never observed before i-e roughly 470 persons per day; have shunned extraneous influence with full support of the Prime Minister, the Minister-in Charge and other quadrants of state power. In the process we have erred, learnt and corrected our course where needed, he said. He said officers and staff have suffered at the hands of the little mafias and they were thrashed, injured, made hostage and fired upon.
