Electricity woes: PM orders action against power theft

Says duration of power outages should be curtailed; line losses must be controlled.

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while ordering serious action against electricity pilferers, has said that the frequency and duration of power outages should be curtailed to facilitate the consumers in the sweltering summer.

He issued the directives at a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister House on Wednesday, where he was briefed on the overall electricity and gas distribution system and the load shedding schedule for the next four months.

The premier said that line losses were unacceptable and measures must be taken on a war footing to control them. He was informed that smart meters at 11KV grids have been installed.

He directed that electricity dues be recovered on a priority basis and a report in this regard be presented in a week. He also ordered action should be taken against the heads of distribution companies (DISCOs) that are not performing well.

The meeting was informed that short-term measures, such as theft control, pressure profiling, leak rectification and replacement of defective meters, have been taken to control Unaccounted for Gas (UFG). Additionally, several medium- and long-term measures, including segmentation of distribution network, pipeline rehabilitation, improvement of measurement accuracy and cathodic protection of steel networks are being adopted.

The prime minister said his government has put in place more stringent legal measures against electricity and gas theft.

The meeting was informed that Pakistan has a total gas network of 146,628km with 7,005,417 consumers. Out of the 2,715 mmcfd in 2012-13, 764 mmcfd was supplied to domestic consumers, 112 to commercial consumers, 320  to the power sector, 89 to the fertiliser sector, 463 to the industrial sector, 274 to the CNG sector and 375 mmcfd fell under the UFG category. Besides that 1,021 mmcfd is dedicated power and fertiliser plants.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2014.