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Friday March 29, 2024

Rs5.57 bn power theft in KP during last fiscal

By Arshad Aziz Malik
August 26, 2021
Rs5.57 bn power theft in KP during last fiscal

PESHAWAR: Electricity worth Rs5697.6 million (Rs5.70 billion) was stolen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) during the last financial year 2020-21.

District Bannu has topped in power theft and Mardan stood second while Haripur has the lowest electricity theft in the province. Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) received electricity worth Rs15,305.3 million during the previous financial year from the power division but received an amount of Rs9,607.7 million from their customers. Thus, the national exchequer suffered a loss of 37.2% during the last financial year. Power thieves have caused a total loss to PESCO of about Rs129,368.1 million (Rs12.93 billion).

Pesco CEO Mohammad Jabbar Khan is optimistic that with the joint efforts of the utility company and provincial government power theft will be reduced in the current year. He said that the provincial government is fully supporting Pesco's ongoing campaign against power thieves and we have the full support of the provincial government. Special anti-theft police stations have been set up to catch the thieves.

“The main reason for power theft was the use of hooks, which used to steal electricity directly from the cables, but now the new ABC cables will help reduce power theft in the province. The Kunda culture is unaccepted at any cost,” he said

According to official data available with this scribe, District Bannu consumers have used Rs645.5 million of electricity and paid only Rs180.3 million. Pesco has faced a Rs465.2 million loss with an average of 72.1 percent during the last fiscal year.

Mardan was divided into hard and soft two areas, the soft area received electricity worth Rs1,235.2 and the hard one Rs77.0 million. Pesco received only Rs750 and 22.7 million billed amounts, causing 70.6 percent loss in the hard area and 39.3 percent in the soft area. District Lakki, Karak, and Charsadda have a 64 percent power theft. Charsadda received electricity worth Rs784.8 million and paid 282.3 million. Pesco suffered an amount of Rs502.5 million during the last financial year.

District Lakki paid only Rs125.8 against electricity of Rs353.3 million and caused a loss of Rs227.5 million to the national exchequer. Similarly, Karak has utilised electricity of Rs233.4 million but paid an amount of Rs83.9 and caused a loss of Rs149.5 million.

District Peshawar has been divided into soft and hard areas, where an average of 25.1 and 63.1 percent power theft has been recorded. The heavy theft areas received electricity of Rs1,127.8 million and paid Rs416.1 million, causing a loss of Rs711.7 million. Soft areas paid Rs1,659.8 million against power used of Rs2,217.2, thus causing a loss of Rs557.4 million.

The district Tank has 53.6 percent losses due to power theft. The district paid Rs82 million against the consumption of Rs176.6 million, thus caused Rs94.6 million loss to Pesco. District Hangu has consumed electricity of Rs200.9 million but paid Rs96.2 million, causing losses of Rs104.8 million with an average of Rs52.1 percent.

District Shangla consumed electricity of Rs47.7 million and paid only Rs23.7 million, while the rest of the 24.0 million, electricity was stolen by the consumers. The district has a 50.2 percent power theft.

According to data, District Kohistan has consumed power of Rs65.6 million and paid only Rs33.1 million while Rs32.5 electricity has been stolen with an average of 49.6 percent by the consumers.

Dera Ismail Khan has 49 percent power theft during the previous financial year. Last year district received electricity of Rs676.6 million but paid only Rs344.8 million thus caused Rs331.8 million losses to the national exchequer.

Similarly, district Kohat received electricity of Rs106.2 million and paid Rs57.5 million, which is Rs48.7 million less than the total consumption with an average of 45.9 percent. Upper Dir customers used power worth Rs182.7 million and paid Rs107.8 million while causing a loss of Rs74.9 million, which is 41 percent of total consumption. Likewise, Lowe Dir consumed Rs467.5 million and paid only Rs303.7. This caused a loss of Rs163.8 million with an average of 35 percent.

District Torghar has paid Rs16.7 million against total consumption of Rs25.4 million. A loss of Rs8.7 million was incurred with an average of 34.1 percent.

District Buner consumed electricity of Rs272.2 million and paid Rs181.1 million causing Rs91.1 million loss with an average of 33.5 percent. Nowshera has a 32.4 percent power theft, only Rs362.5 million collected against their total consumption of Rs1,117.7 million but they paid only Rs755.1 million.

District Swabi consumed power of Rs885.4 million and consumers paid only Rs626.8 million causing a loss of Rs258.6 million with an average of Rs29.2 million in the last year. Another district, Batagram paid Rs119.2 against the consumption of Rs153.7 million while causing loss of Rs34.6 million with an average of 22.5 percent.

Abbottabad used the power of Rs462.2 million and paid Rs366.3 million to Pesco, causing a loss of Rs95.9 million with an average of 20.8 million. District Manshera has damaged the national exchequer by stealing only 18.2 percent of electricity. The district paid Rs604.8 million against actual usage of Rs739.2 million, thus caused Rs134.4 million losses to the national exchequer.

Haripur District has been declared the best one with the lowest 11.7 percent power theft. The district has consumed power of Rs1,143.7 million and paid Rs1,009.7 million. This causing Rs134.0 million losses to Pesco.