{"id":1411,"date":"2023-09-07T13:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/special-courts-to-try-punish-electricity-thieves-pakistan-observer\/"},"modified":"2023-09-07T13:00:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:00:07","slug":"special-courts-to-try-punish-electricity-thieves-pakistan-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/special-courts-to-try-punish-electricity-thieves-pakistan-observer\/","title":{"rendered":"Special courts to try, punish electricity thieves – Pakistan Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The interim government on Wednesday announced that it is working on Electricity Theft Control Act aimed at curbing losses in the country and special courts will be erected to try and punish power thieves.Addressing a joint news conference in Islamabad along with Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, Caretaker Minister for Energy, Power and Petroleum Muhammad Ali unveiled that the country sustains annual losses to the tune of Rs589 billion due to electricity theft and non-bill payment.<\/p>\n

While announcing a string of measures to crush power theft, the minister said the government is working on Electricity Theft Control Act to curb transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in the country. said \u201cWe are working on an Electricity Theft Control Act, under which we would establish an enforcement infrastructure across the country. Similarly, special courts will be formed as well,\u201d he added.He further maintained \u201cWe target to finalise the draft of this law in two to three weeks, and move it for approval and implement it as an ordinance. We target to reduce the T&D losses as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister said there are 10 distribution companies (DISCOs) in the country, with K-Electric having its own distribution network. \u201cBecause of these losses, consumers who pay their electricity bills are charged higher rates. Unless electricity theft and non-payment of bills are controlled, the electricity tariff cannot be lowered,\u201d he elaborated.<\/p>\n

Ali said T&D losses sustained by distribution companies including IESCO, LESCO, GEPCO, FESCO and MEPCO stand at Rs100 billion out of a total billing of Rs3,044 billion, which shows a 3% loss. \u201cOn the other hand, T&D losses of PESCO, HESCO, QESCO, SEPCO, TESCO and AJK stood at Rs489 billion, out of total billing of Rs737 billion, which translates into 60% losses,\u201d he added.He said that due to a uniform electricity rate, customers of sound performing distribution companies are charged higher rates. \u201cWe have got all the data, and we will use it to take our next step.<\/p>\n

We will initiate crackdown in those areas, where electricity theft is higher,\u201d he added.The minister said the electricity act will be moved in the next two to three weeks and passed through a presidential ordinance. \u201cWe are aiming to stop or reduce power theft of Rs589 billion at the earliest,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The minister said authorities are initiating a crackdown against electricity theft and action will be taken against power thieves on the basis of data available to them.Also also shared that a list of those power distribution companies\u2019 officers involved in power theft has been compiled and action against them will be taken. The list of officers has been sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for their removal, he added.<\/p>\n

He announced that the prime minister has issued directives to \u201ccrack down on power theft and ensure recovery from those who don\u2019t pay bills\u201d.<\/p>\n

For this purpose, the government is taking various steps, he said. \u201cWhere theft is less, up to 30pc, we will curb it through technological intervention. Where the loss is 30-60pc, we are considering whether we should involve the private sector in management,\u201d Ali said and added. \u201cFor areas where losses are above 60pc, we will take enforcement measures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also mentioned government plans to improve the management of Discos. \u201cWe are looking at their board of governors; we will make changes in those and the management,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ali said the government has communicated with chief secretaries and police chiefs in provinces and \u201cwe have their full support in implementing these measures.\u201dHe further said the government will be constituting taskforces at the provincial level which would be led by home secretaries and include provincial energy secretaries, a federal government officer and police officers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The interim government on Wednesday announced that it is working on Electricity Theft Control Act aimed at curbing losses in the country and special courts will be erected to try and punish power thieves.Addressing a joint news conference in Islamabad along with Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, Caretaker Minister for Energy, Power and Petroleum Muhammad Ali […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/pakobserver.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/karachi.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-karachi-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}