Standing committee orders Sindh to clear dues

Panel reviews losses, recoveries and staffing gaps at HESCO, SEPCO

HYDERABAD:

The Standing Committee on Power Division on Friday directed the Sindh government's Finance, Irrigation and Energy departments to ensure payment of reconciled electricity dues to Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and Sukkur Electric Power Company, as it reviewed losses, recoveries and staffing issues at the two utilities.

The directive was issued during a committee meeting held at HESCO's Power Wing Colony under the chairmanship of Muhammad Idrees, MNA. According to an official statement, the committee reviewed the performance of HESCO and SEPCO over the last three years, ongoing electricity projects, the power supply situation in their jurisdictions and factors contributing to high transmission and distribution losses, including theft, illegal connections, meter tampering and weak enforcement.

At the outset, the committee unanimously approved the report of a sub-committee constituted on December 24, 2025, and decided that a dedicated meeting would be convened to resolve outstanding dues recoverable from the Sindh government and to separately identify disputed or disowned amounts.

Syed Waseem Hussain, MNA, told the committee that the issue of recoverable amounts could be resolved through a high-level meeting involving the federal minister and secretary for Power Division, the Sindh chief secretary, provincial secretaries for finance, irrigation and energy, and the chief executives of HESCO and SEPCO. The committee agreed with the proposal and issued directions accordingly.

The HESCO CEO said the utility operates four circles with 79 grid stations, improved recoveries, reduced losses, and ended loadshedding on 32 feeders.

The SEPCO chief said the company operates in 10 districts through nine circles, faces 3,552 vacancies out of 9,554 posts, but increased recovery by 12.4% in FY2025-26.