Home minister accused of protecting 'thieves': 55,000 of Sepco consumers receiving power illegally: CEO

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sukkur Electric Power Supply Company (Sepco) Muzaffar Abbasi on Wednesday made a shocking disclosure before National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday that Home Minister Sindh was involved in releasing those accused of power theft from lockup. He made this revelation during a public hearing conducted by Nepra chaired by Member Nepra Khawaja Naeem to determine tariff for ongoing financial year 2015-16.
Sepco has requested to allow major increase in power tariff by Rs 4 to Rs 8 per unit, a move to recover unpaid bills from honest paying consumers. The regulator has reserved judgement. Sepco Chief said that 55000 of its consumers were receiving electricity illegally - through kundas.
"We have faced critical problems in taking action against power thieves with only 27 registered 27 out of total illegal connections during the last four months," he said adding that Home Minister Sindh manages to release people from police stations involved in power theft.
The regulator expressed serious concerns over higher power theft in Sepco which was pushing the company towards the financial default. Nepra directed Sepco officials to submit details of projects and also timeframe of a start and completion of these projects.
Due to higher losses, Sepco has requested the regulator to allow increase in tariff by Rs 4 to Rs 8 per unit for different categories of domestic consumers and Rs 8 per unit for commercial and agricultural consumers. He said that Sepco had waived off Rs 9 billion outstanding against Sindh government which still owed Rs 39 billion dues. However, the Sindh government was not ready to clear dues.
He said that Sepco was facing multibillion rupee annual loss due to high rate of power theft. "We have reached an agreement with consumers using illegal Kundas," he said, adding that Sepco would install meters by receiving Rs 150 fee and their outstanding would be recovered in 20 instalments. He disclosed that Sepco would purchase 4.10 billion units from Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) during ongoing financial year and would be able to recover only the cost of 2.70 billion units from the consumers. This means that 1.30 billion units electricity would be wasted through power theft and line losses.
In another hearing, the Nepra also approved power acquisition contract with Central Asian States and allowed National Transmission and Dispatch (NTDC) to import 1300 Megawatt (MW) under CASA-1000 MW power. According to Nepra, this project would cost $953 million. Pakistan will import electricity from Tajikistan and begin receiving electricity in 2017. Nepra said that Pakistan would be able to import an additional 300 MW under this project if Afghanistan did not use its share of electricity due to low demand in the country.