Loadshedding, poor performance: KP PA panel for outsourcing Pesco to benefit people

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Standing Committee on Electricity and Gas has slammed Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) for illegal loadshedding and poor performance and called for its outsourcing like other public sector entities to benefit the general public.

The meeting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Standing Committee was held in Peshawar on Wednesday with chairman in the chair and attended by senior officials of the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO), Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco), Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (KPOGCL).

In the meeting, the PEDO gave a detailed briefing on the construction of small and large dams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, solarisation schemes in mosques and madrasas, construction of provincial transmission lines and other ongoing development projects.

Members of the Provincial Assembly Anwar Zeb Khan, Muhammad Riaz Khan, Arbab Muhammad Usman Khan, Jamila Paracha, Gul Ibrahim, Shazia Jadoon, Gurpal Singh, Shazia Tahmas, Ashbar Jadoon, and Khadija Bibi attended the meeting and expressed their concerns about the ongoing electricity and gas loadshedding in their constituencies. The members of the Assembly apprised the meeting of their concerns regarding electricity load shedding, low voltage, transformer repairs, electricity bill distributors, meter readers, staff shortage, overbilling and line losses.

Arbab Usman, Khadija Bibi and other members of the Assembly informed the participants of the meeting about the ongoing gas and electricity loadshedding in their constituencies and said that the province has the first right to local gas production, but the loadshedding of electricity and gas in Peshawar, Kohat Division and other districts is inappropriate and should be controlled.

Chairman Dawood Shah said that Pesco staff has been providing services at the same station for a long time, which needs to be replaced immediately.

Similarly, MPA Gorpal Singh proposed installing solarisation plants at his religious places. Dawood Shah suggested bringing industrial zones across the province under solarisation projects and also directed to bring details of the work in this regard in the future.

On this occasion, Chairman Dawood Shah said that the public needs to be relieved from the illegal load shedding of gas and electricity in Kohat Division as soon as possible. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is making itself self-sufficient in electricity and other local production and in this regard, is building its own transmission line for cheap electricity. He said that the performance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Company Limited is commendable and it will soon introduce its own drilling system.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026