Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC)'s ongoing anti-theft and recovery drive has entered its vital phase. The utility has decided to execute the final stroke against such premises and connections where electricity thievery and non-payment of bills has become chronic.
Finally, KESC is considering legal measures to ensure that these customers do not get electricity or other utility services. The decision to carry out the ultimate action has been taken at the conclusion of the 30-day warning campaign during which enough time was given for realisation and voluntarily giving up of committing these two crimes. Meanwhile, enquiries had been finalised on more than 12,000 electricity theft complaints made by the citizens of Karachi under KESC "Speak-Up" drive via email, telephone calls, SMS or fax messages.
During the final stroke, besides legal actions of registering FIRs, arrest campaign and court cases, KESC would disconnect power supply to such premises and locations, where electricity stealing and non-payment of bills would not stop. The war against non-payment of bills and theft of electricity was declared by KESC with the active support of overwhelming majority of genuine and honest electricity consumers of Karachi who follow fair and legal ways to use electricity and pay their bills regularly. Several schemes have been launched including "Name and Shame" campaign, which brought bad name to those responsible and "KESC-Public Partnership Programme" which exposed many influential individuals involved in electricity theft.
The KESC has been losing more than 31 percent of supplied electricity because of electricity theft at hundreds of thousands of places in the huge metropolis, which has been causing financial loss of billions of rupees to the utility every year. Also, the non-paying residential and commercial consumers owe KESC over Rs 35 billions and action is being initiated against all such defaulters. These losses have blocked smooth functioning of the utility, which has a public service role to play because of the essential nature of electricity in the life of citizens.
For instance, the quantum of electricity lost by electricity theft is about the same as is the volume of shortfall of power against the needs of the Karachi consumers. This shortfall, actually theft, has created the issue of load shedding which causes an ongoing trouble for the general public as well as forcing frequent shocks and jerks to the power supply system.-PR
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