Electricity theft: Pakistan recovers over Rs119 bln from defaulters

The Power Division has recovered over Rs119 billion during a countrywide electricity theft crackdown, ARY News reported on Friday.

The crackdown launched by the Pakistani government and military leadership’s measures to restore the country’s economy is now showing positive results.

According to the details, Rs119.79 billion have been recovered from individuals involved in the electricity theft crackdown while 85,572 electricity thieves were arrested since the crackdown began.

The relevant institutions collected over one billion rupees from electricity thieves in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Sukkur, Quetta, Hyderabad and Islamabad, from September 24 to October 2.

During the said period, 242 power thieves were also rounded up.

Read more: Crackdown begins against corrupt officers to prevent power theft

On September 6, last year, the then caretaker federal government announced plans to launch a crackdown across the country on electricity theft in a bid to reduce the ballooning circular debt in the power sector.

The power minister said that there are 10 distribution companies in Pakistan that are facing a total loss of Rs589 billion annually. He said electricity theft and nonpayment of electricity bills are the major causes of this huge loss.

It is to be noted here that the inflated power bills triggered country-wide protests from Karachi to Khyber and protests in some parts of the country turned violent.