Anti-power theft crackdown: ‘real payoff’ to become measurable from next month, says PD

The effect of the government crackdown against electricity theft will become measurable by the middle of next month, said Rashid Langrial, the Power Division (PD) secretary.

Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Langrial said that as part of its anti-power theft campaign, the government has recovered roughly Rs7.9 billion, while 2,301 persons have been arrested.

“This campaign is not about fines and recovery; it is about modifying the free-lunch behavior,” said Langrial.

“Real payoff will be measurable by the middle of next month due to limitation of monthly billing and payment cycle,” he added.

As per the data shared by the government official, the authorities to date have recovered over Rs2 billion from LESCO, Rs1.5 billion from HESCO, and over Rs1 billion each from MEPCO and PESCO respectively.

Days ago, the caretaker government initiated a crackdown against electricity theft, an issue that has caused the power sector losses of Rs589 billion annually.

On Monday, the Power Division secretary said that the capacity payment has doubled, i.e., to Rs2,152 billion from Rs1,082 billion due to the dollar’s increase – from Rs100 to Rs300.

Sharing information about capacity payment, Langrial explained that foreign-funded dollar-denominated IPPs have contributed the most.

Locally-funded RLNG plant capacity payment has increased by 60% while foreign-funded coal plants’ payment has gone up by 145%, he said.