Electricity theft is also theft

The atmosphere in the newsroom was pleasant and coverage was being planned for Ramadan. In such a situation, the arrangement of Taraweeh and sports was mentioned by lighting the lamp. The assignment editor, keeping in view the statement of a religious scholar, said that in the light of his statement regarding the lighting, an interview should be recorded and a package should be made. He said that electricity should not be used for religious gatherings. Pay the bill first, then use it.

On this, the sports reporter suddenly said that is theft of electricity also a theft? Night cricket tournaments have been held with electric poles since our childhood. In every meeting, in the wedding ceremony that takes place in the neighborhood, only one kunda has to be inserted and the whole wedding ceremony becomes glittering. It is not called theft. And then the conversation turned in another direction but the thing started circulating in my mind that "theft of electricity, theft is a little bit".

 

Surprisingly in Pakistan, theft of utilities is not considered theft. People steal water, electricity and natural gas on a large scale. Due to which all the utilities face losses. The situation in Karachi due to water theft and non-payment of bills is in front of everyone.

 The water supply situation in the city is such that the water board does not even come to collect its bill. Similarly, Sui Southern and Sui Northern face billions of rupees in annual losses due to natural gas theft. But the biggest theft is electricity.

The power generation, transmission and distribution sector is a major sector in Pakistan. The country's power supply network extends from the Wagah border to the coast of Karachi. That is, the electricity network is spread across the country, east, west, north and south. And it is this network that provides employment to most people in Pakistan. If the biggest investment has been made in any sector, it is the power generation sector. Billions of rupees are spent annually on the production and transmission of this electricity.

 

After all, why don't people in Pakistan consider theft of electricity as theft? A former WAPDA official replied that Pakistan did a lot at a time when neither the nation nor the region was ready for it. Pakistan built the Tarbela and Mangla dams and when mass production of electricity started, only the users of this electricity were needed to run the hydroelectric turbines. For this reason, without any plan, the country started laying power transmission and distribution system.

 WAPDA installed meters for the people but in many areas no readings were ever taken on the meters and no electricity bills were sent to them. And this trend continued for many years and the people got into the habit of using electricity for free. And now this habit has become so strong that they do not even consider electricity theft as theft. While the government and the private sector have to work hard to generate electricity and deliver it to the people.

At present Pakistan has the capacity to generate about 4000 MW of electricity and several projects are currently under completion, after which in the year 2023 53504 MW of electricity generation capacity will be achieved. Pakistan includes hydropower, wind power and thermal power. Numerous sources of thermal power generation including nuclear energy, coal, domestic natural gas, imported RLNG, furnace oil, etc. Whether electricity is generated from thermal sources, wind or hydropower generation costs. At these costs, the generated electricity reaches the grid station through the transmission line to be delivered to the consumers.

From there electricity is brought to the substation. From where the electricity reaches the consumers through PMT and wires. The whole process requires a lot of technology, expensive equipment and skilled manpower to run the system. Which is a huge expense. The cost per unit of electricity is determined by including the costs of power generation, transmission and distribution.

The World Bank, in its 2017 report on electricity subsidies in Pakistan, stated that the government was subsidizing electricity in Pakistan by 8% of GDP, reducing it to 0.4% of GDP. Have to bring The purpose of this subsidy is to facilitate the poor people to use electricity but this subsidy is also being given to the rich class. Despite this subsidy, power theft in the country is not going to be eliminated or reduced in any way.

The State of Industry Report released by NEPRA states that the circular debt is increasing due to the transmission and distribution losses of discus and non-receipt of bills. Discus seems to be failing to collect and take action on an individual level against those involved in power theft. Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Quetta are taking less electricity than their required quota and are carrying out more load shedding to reduce bill losses. Rising revolving credit is not only affecting the energy sector but also the economy as a whole.

Large-scale theft of electricity and non-payment of subsidies by the government are plaguing the revolving loans of the energy sector. The revolving credit generated by electricity theft in June 2017 was Rs 729 billion, which increased to Rs 1148 billion on June 30, 2018. 1612 billion at the end of fiscal year 2019, Rs. 2150 billion at the end of fiscal year 2020 and Rs. 2327 billion at the end of fiscal year 2021. As of February this year, the revolving credit in Pakistan has reached Rs. 2500 billion. And if it continues to grow like this, this debt could exceed Rs 4,000 billion by 2025.

K Electric spokesman Imran Rana said that since 2009, Electric has invested Rs 415 billion in upgrading its system. Which has improved the power distribution system. K Electric upgrades previous and overloaded grids. In addition, the old PMTs were replaced.

 Most importantly, K Electric has replaced the open wires with aerial bundle cable. Electricity could be stolen by hooking up open wires wherever you want, but hooking up aerial bundled cables is difficult, if not impossible. Similarly, Electric has reduced electricity theft by 39% to 16% and has made more than 75% of the city load shedding free. This has had a positive impact on industrial production as well as business activities in the city.

NEPRA has stated in its State of Industry Report for the years 2021 and 2022 that the reasons for increasing revolving credit are inefficiency among those operating power generation, transmission and distribution. Rising revolving debt is not only putting a strain on the national exchequer, but also raising concerns about the future of the country's economy. This revolving loan is likely to have a negative impact on foreign investors.

Like Pakistan, electricity is stolen all over the world. Expensive electricity in Pakistan is due to large scale theft of electricity. According to Paid, a consumer of 100 units of electricity in Pakistan pays 10 times more for the same unit of electricity in the United States.

Experts say that in addition to the law, technology should be used to prevent electricity theft, which would make it difficult to steal. As K Electric has done. K Electric has installed aerial bundle cables in most parts of the city. Now open wires are not available to be hooked. Other discos can also reduce electricity theft by following this and learning from K-Electric's experiences.

A report has been compiled by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics on electricity theft worldwide and the steps being taken in this regard. According to the economic theory, economic crime is committed when the profit from the crime exceeds the expected cost of the offender.

Experts say electricity theft occurs in places where electricity providers fail to collect bills. And unprofessional behavior of employees, laziness and sometimes collusion leads to power theft.

It also shows a link between the price of electricity and per capita income among the causes of electricity theft worldwide. Per capita income is negatively related to electricity theft. That is, the higher the per capita income, the less electricity theft.

Therefore, experts suggest increasing per capita income to prevent electricity theft. In other words, in order to prevent theft of electricity, economic activities should be increased in the country, which would increase the income of the people in the country.

The most important thing is to promote cheap sources of electricity generation, which needs to focus on solar and wind energy. In addition, legal action should be taken against those who steal electricity and big power thieves should be punished so that they can serve as a warning to others. And to make the public aware that electricity theft is also theft.