Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) Managing Director Musaddiq Ahmed Khan has directed all the chief executive officers (CEOs) of distribution companies (DISCOs) to prepare robust proposals to reduce the power distribution losses and aggregate technical & commercial losses (AT&C) immediately. The directions were passed in the wake of loss of considerable amount of energy beyond the permissible limit during the last five months at 11 kV feeders of all 10 power distribution companies. Some 50 percent and above losses on 745 feeders were recorded during the month of November 2017 which resulted in loss of 250.71 million KWH (units). Whereas the losses at same percentage were recorded during July to November 2017 on 1241 feeders of DISCOs (except IESCO) incurred the loss of 2.234 billion units of electricity.

The progress report revealed that among the worst performing DISCOs, PESCO lost 141.85 million units in KPK, LESCO lost 16.64 million units in Punjab, SEPCO lost 20.01 million units in Sindh and 37.37 units were lost by QESCO in Balochistan in the month of November 2017, only. The PEPCO management said this loss is a perpetual drain on the power sector finances and indicates the poor performance and inefficiency on the part of DISCOs. The MD PEPCO directed the CEOs to prepare the proposals not limited to the options of outsourcing billing and collection on the aforementioned feeders. The proposals should be placed before respective Board of Directors of DISCOs for consideration, decision and implementation, he added.

The MD said that progress of DISCOs will be monitored in monthly review meetings. Failure to improve reasonably well may entail extreme measures under applicable rules/law including Efficiency and Discipline (E&D) Rules 1978, Electricity Act and NAB Ordinance, if needed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018