Leakage and theft: Power worth Rs90 billion lost

This is in addition to the transmission and distribution losses allowed by NEPRA.


Zafar Bhutta January 11, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


The country has lost power worth Rs90 billion during the calendar year 2010 on account of leakages and theft in power system derailing the efforts of government to address issue of load shedding across the country that has hit the economic growth.


The lost electricity has also been cited as the major reason behind the circular debt that has plagued the entire energy chain. The loss of electricity worth Rs90 billion is in addition to the transmission and distribution losses allowed by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) up to 13-14 per cent during 2010.

This shocking disclosure came in a meeting of the Special Committee on Energy Crisis (SCEC) that met on Monday. The SCEC also proposed that power managers shift consumers using 150 to 300 units per month on hydel power to charge Rs1.30 per unit while the consumers falling in the category of bulk electric units consumption should be shifted over to the tariff charged by IPPs and Rental Power Plants (RPPs) and other power generation resources. Secretary water and power endorsed this proposal of the NA panel.

Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) chief operating officer said that a meeting of SCEC that 10 billion units of electricity were lost during 2010 due to leakages and theft in the national grid.

Secretary Water and Power Imtiaz Qazi and other energy managers failed to respond to question raised by member committee Shahid Khakan Abbasi over justification of units lost on account of theft and Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses.

The committee expressed dismay over power managers coming to the meeting without enough preparation and updated information - even the CEO of the Central Power Purchase Agency – to satisfy the panel regarding the losses. The energy body directed energy managers to come to the next meeting with a detailed explanation for this loss.

According to figures given by CPPA, during calendar year 2010, CPPA had purchased more than 92 billion units of electricity from power generation companies including Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), Independent Power Producers (IPPs), Rental Power Plants (RPPs) as well as alternative energy resources, however the agency made a billing of 82.318 billion units passed on to power distribution companies.

The average line losses of entire group of nine distribution companies were up to 19.5 per cent. These Discos include Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO), Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO), Quetta Electric Supply Company (QUESCO), Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), Heyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO), Sukur Electric Power company (SEPCO) and Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO).

The highest line losses of 35 per cent have been recorded in HESCO and PESCO.

Another shocking revelation was made by Qazi when he told the panel that the daily expenses of the power sector had reached Rs2.3 billion, against daily revenue of approximately rs1.75 billion, resulting in a shortfall of half a billion rupees daily. He also admitted that staff of power distribution companies was involved in power theft.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2012.

COMMENTS (1)

Cautious | 12 years ago | Reply

The American's have provided you with the technology to detect power theft -- why not use it. It's amazing that a country which has money to waste on nukes, missiles etc doesn't have the most basic skills that other countries posses -- your seriously need to get your priorities straight.

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