Plans to create specialist divisions to help power distribution companies (DISCOs) recover unpaid electricity bills have been announced by the federal government.Working under the CEOs of the DISCOs, these support units will include members of intelligence services like MI and ISI. A civil armed forces sector commander would act as a co-director and report directly to the secretary of the Power Division.
The Cabinet Committee for Energy has been tasked with expeditiously approving the proposal for these units. The first unit will be piloted by Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) initially, and depending on its success, additional cities may be added.
Given the difficulty DISCOs have in collecting unpaid debt totaling Rs. 1,780 billion, this program is essential.In four districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Bannu, DI Khan, Tank, and Shangla a report from the previous year stated that 100% of customers were not paying their energy bills.
In a similar vein, over 90% of residents in Balochistani districts like Pasni, Gwadar, Makran, Khuzdar, and Lorelai obtained energy through illicit connections.DISCOs bought 116.5 billion units of power during the course of a year, selling 97.34 billion to customers while 19.17 billion units were lost to theft or technical issues. Significant losses were suffered by Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco), as 5.7 billion units worth Rs77 billion were stolen in less than a year.
