ISLAMABAD: Secretary Power Rashid Mahmood Langrial has stated that power Distribution Companies (Discos) anti-theft and recovery drives generated savings of Rs55 billion as of November 20, 2023 - 46 billion from September 7 till October 31, 2023, in less than 73 days, and Rs9 billion in November so far.

According to Secretary Power November data includes detection charges and arrears recovery but does not include financial impact of theft reduction.

In this recovery effort, LESCO leads with Rs10 billion, followed by PESCO with Rs9 billion, he added.

In the process, Discos have arrested 29,541 delinquent consumers and 20 employees and suspended another 272 employees including officers.

“We have also raised detection charges of Rs5 billion plus. Most of the theft variance in large swathes of the Indus plain is associated with cooling load and local sense of impunity.

Therefore, as winter approaches, monthly payoff of the anti-theft campaign compared to previous year would fall as incentive for theft is even otherwise not very high,” he continued.

Talking to Business Recorder, he said that few inefficient senior officers of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) have been replaced with efficient and hardworking officials of Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023