Muhammad Ali Federal Minister for Energy said that Peshawar, Hyderabad, Quetta, Sukkur, Tribal Areas and AJK have losses of Rs489 billion.
According to press release Caretaker Federal Minister of Information Murtaza Solangi and Caretaker Energy Minister Muhammad Ali held a press conference together in which Murtaza Solangi said that electricity theft is the most important factor among the factors of increased electricity prices. He said that electricity worth 849 billion rupees is stolen every year, so there is a dire and urgent need for reforms in the energy sector.
Addressing the press conference, the Minister of Energy said that there are 10 distribution companies in Pakistan, but the situation of power theft and recovery is different in each region. Due to electricity theft, consumers paying electricity bills have to pay higher electricity rates.
He said that some of the domestic consumers steal electricity and some don’t pay their bills. To stop electricity theft, a crackdown has to be started, said the energy minister. He further said that there is a loss of 79 billion rupees in the distribution companies of Islamabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Multan.
Only five distribution companies have a loss of 100 billion rupees out of the billing of 344 billion rupees. Federal Minister informed that 60% of these five companies do not recover.
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