Rs105b recovered in campaign against power pilferage

In a countrywide campaign against power pilferage, Rs105 billion have been recovered, Radio Pakistan reported.

This results from actions taken by the government and the military leadership to revive the country’s economy and bring the people out of the power crisis.

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The concerned authorities collected more than Rs1.6 billion from electricity thieves in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, and Islamabad between June 30 and July 17.

During this period, Rs430 million have been recovered from Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, and Quetta.

More than 83 thousand individuals involved in power theft have been arrested.

The relevant institutions are determined to continue their operations until the complete elimination of electricity thieves from across the country.

Power sector sources recently told Business Recorder that a 10 percent electricity bills/recovery loss in the province of Punjab may be equal to the total demand of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Balochistan combined.

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They said percentage at times does not mean much. Rather, it is the quantity that matters in terms of kilowatt hour (KWH) in the case of electricity and unaccounted-for gas in MMbtu in the case of natural gas.

It may be noted that some districts in the province of Balochistan are incurring losses of 90% or more, which cause Rs40 billion in revenue loss. Furthermore, some other districts in the same province register losses between 81 and 90 per cent, causing Rs46 billion loss to the national exchequer.

Similarly, a few more districts in the province of Balochistan and major portion of the KPK record 61 to 80% recovery losses, causing Rs42 billion revenue loss. There are also a few districts in the KPK where recovery losses fall between 41 to 60 per cent with revenue loss of Rs97 billion.

In addition, some parts of KPK and the province of Sindh register loss between 21 to 40 per cent, causing revenue loss of Rs99 billion. However, there are some parts of Sindh as well as the south of Punjab where loss is between 21 to 40 per cent with revenue loss of Rs99 billion. Those where the recovery loss is between 11 to 20 per cent incur revenue loss of Rs42 billion.

In the province of Punjab, those areas with recovery loss between 6 to 10 per cent incur Rs68 billion, while those with 5 per cent or below cause a revenue loss of Rs37 billion.