As the ministerial committee on energy loses its steam, the political compulsions arising out of government’s lack of decisiveness are likely to force it to continue bearing with the power theft in the three smaller provinces.
An official source said loss mapping data presented to the committee sought powers for the distribution companies (DISCOs) to permanently disconnect supply to areas were power theft was rampant and people were not ready to pay their utility bills.
The disconnection of power supplies for an indefinite period would force people to pay their bills.
The government is faced with a difficult situation as opting for the extreme step would result in a major political trouble in the three smaller provinces, where DISCOs could neither collect the bills nor could take action against the defaulters.
“Law and order in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan is poor and if we (DISCOs) attempt to enforce our writ, our staff members are abducted,” the source added.
With little addition in the national grid, the DISCOs are continuously under political pressure to increase rural electrification for agriculture tube wells as the canal water availability is on the decline. More than 80,000 new tube well connections were given out in the last decade. The electricity connections in rural areas are costly and increase power theft but they mean votes for the political elite. With the elections approaching, the government is in no mood to annoy its supporters in the rural areas.
The circular debt has already crossed Rs 400 billion and government has no revenue to make up for the losses. Any attempt to force people of the smaller provinces would increase their angst against the PPP. The only option is to increase the power tariff paid by the people of urban areas, the source said.
Because of the electricity theft, the government has not been able to address the issues of the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), who had warned that non clearance of their Rs 210 billion dues would result in closure of their plants. IPPs are providing nearly half (6000 MW) of the country’s daily demand.
IPPs were assured on August 11 by the committee that their problems would be resolved in next three days. However, for the last three days the committee has not held the meeting since the minister for water and power was busy helping the flood victims in Sindh while the petroleum minister has gone on a sojourn abroad. The government has made a commitment that it would hold a meeting on August 19 to address the issue, the source said
The major problem for the committee is where to benchmark the line losses of DISCOs, the transmission and dispatch losses are close to 15 percent but actual losses are above 30 percent. If the losses are set at 15 percent then DISCOs would still be liable for the rest of the losses, which will increase circular debt. There are inter-ministerial differences on reducing line losses, some asking for letting DISCOs heads roll, which is opposed by the power ministry on the grounds that they have no powers to implement their writ. They could not indefinitely disconnect power supply, as political pressure forces them to revert and they have no power to forcibly collect the bills, he said.
The committee was informed that steel melting units have shifted to tribal areas where they neither pay their utility bills nor their power supply could be cut off. An attempt was made but there was uproar in the provincial assembly. Same is the case in the rural areas of Sindh and Balochistan where landlords are not ready to pay bills for their tube wells. Even in the urban areas power supply could not be disconnected as every political party wants to cash in the opportunity.
