Minister admits failure in controlling power theft

The government has admitted its failure to curtail the electricity pilfering in the country, which is going on in league with employees of DISCOs and consequently contributing to increase the circular debt. This confession came to light by the officials of Ministry of Water and Power here on Friday during a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power chaired by Senator Taj Haider.
The additional secretary and joint secretary of the ministry stated, "The helping hand of the officials of distribution companies can not be denied and this practice has been going on for years and can not be completely done away with." Joint Secretary Zargham also briefed the committee on future strategy of power generation while Additional Secretary Hassan Nasir Jami stated that power theft with the connivance of the officials of WAPDA has been going on over the years and it is difficult to control it.
The Ministry of Water and Power said that load shedding is being observed more in those areas where recovery is low due to power theft and other factors. As far as power theft is concerned, the additional secretary said that it would be difficult to control it 100 percent.
However, he added, a number of steps have been taken to deal with the problem, including setting up of complaint cells at federal and DISCOs level for filing of the complaints against the officials of distribution companies while a law has also been passed from the Parliament for stringent punishment for those found involved in power theft.
They further stated that the government is not producing electricity from expensive power plants and 2 to 3 power plants have been shut for quite long. "We are operating power plants keeping in view the demand supply situation," they added. Members of the committee suggested that committee should take briefing from the chief of distribution companies on issues of theft as well as load shedding, etc, through video links. The chairman of the committee accepted their suggestion and decided to take briefing from them through video link instead of inviting them to the committee meeting.
The officials of Ministry of Water and Power stated that ministry is also taking briefing from the heads of distribution companies through video link. Amjad Ali Awan from Alternative Energy Development Board told the meeting that there is huge potential of solar energy in Pakistan and AEDB has been working to exploit the potential.