Since the launch of their campaign against power theft and illegal connections in the region, on Saturday, the Hyderabad Electric Supply company (Hesco) has claimed to have collected Rs3.59 billion of which Rs3.55 billion were recovered from defaulters, while Rs41.8 million were collected as penalties.

According to Saadik Kubar, spokesperson for Hesco, Rs1.88 million have been collected from major cities during this campaign with Rs58.5 million collected from Hyderabad, Rs12.8 million from Nawabshah and Rs9.7 million from Mirpur Khas, amounting to Rs81 million in total. He further disclosed that Rs150.9 million was recovered from the whole region along with the removal of 8 transformers and disconnection of 38 transformers for the dues of Rs76.013 million. Kubar further informed that a total of 251 transformers have been removed and electricity has been disconnected from 1,110 transformers since the beginning of the campaign. Hesco authorities submitted 1219 letters against power thieves to the police stations for filing of FIRs and 413 cases were registered which led to the arrest of 45 power thieves.

In Peshawar, under the supervision of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Task Force for Energy, efforts to recover electricity bills from users of defaulter feeders in various districts of the province continued. Over 20,645 connections were disconnected, leading to a recovery of Rs1.43 billion, with an additional Rs110 million collected from consumers involved in power theft. The third meeting was held under the chairmanship of the head of Provincial Task Force for Energy, Mohammad Abid Majeed, Additional Chief Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department. Senior officials including Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, District Police Officers and representatives of Energy & Power and Industries and the CEO of PESCO attended the meeting.

The meeting was informed that over 10,406 raids were conducted by PESCO, district administration and the police, where large commercial hubs and factories were involved in illegal use of electricity. More than 20645 connections of Kunda mafia including consumers were disconnected while cases were registered against more than 7080 accused by local police, amongst them 479 were arrested.

Additionally, the Lahore Electricity Supply Company (LESCO) launched a 30-day anti-theft protection security campaign in five districts, including Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Kasur, and Okara. Lesco detected 14,259 connections involved in electricity theft, resulting in FIRs against 14,127 individuals, with 13,314 cases registered and 4,653 arrests. These electricity thieves were required to pay Rs1.33 billion for 29,424,716 units of stolen electricity.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2023.

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