PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s task force on power theft on Tuesday decided about a large-scale crackdown on the people stealing electricity in the province, including “big fish”.

In its maiden meeting here, the task force decided that strict action would be taken against “influential mafia and big fish involved in the illegal use of electricity and kunda culture [hook connections], while lists of factories, hotels, commercial plazas, wedding halls, shopping malls, shops and illegal housing societies involved in power theft have also been prepared, according to an official statement.

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It added that a clampdown on power theft would soon be launched on a large scale in the province.

The provincial government notified the formation of the task force and its enforcement committees at tehsil and district levels last week to implement a multifaceted approach to effectively combat electricity theft and make recoveries from defaulters, according to the statement.

Officials say teams formed to recover Rs190bn dues from electricity consumers

Its first meeting was chaired by home and tribal affairs secretary Mohammad Abid Majeed and attended by energy and power secretary Zulfikar Ali Shah, Peshawar commissioner Zubair Khan, Malakand commissioner Shahidullah Khan, Peshawar Electric Supply Company’s chief Fazal Rabi, additional secretary of the power division Arshad Majeed Khan and other senior civil and police officials.

The task force warned domestic power consumers against using illegal hook connections (kunda) and said such people would be dealt with strictly under the law.

It asked defaulters of electricity bills to clear dues to help address the current energy crisis.

The meeting was informed that in the last week, a total of 518 raids were conducted across the province leading to the removal of 925 illegal power collections, registration of 684 cases by police, arrest of 28 people, issuance of warning to 338 consumers, and recovery of Rs4 million from defaulters.

According to the Pesco chief, power defaulters in the province have to clear Rs190 billion dues for whose recovery special teams have been formed.

Additional secretary Arshad Majeed Khan expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of Pesco and said power theft was mostly reported in Mardan, Charsadda, Bannu, Peshawar while the recovery targets are also low.

Commissioners and regional police officers of the Bannu, DI Khan, Kohat, Bannu and Hazara informed participants about their measures for dues recovery and prevention of electricity theft in their respective areas.

The participants called for the use of the Whistleblower Act to make the campaign against power theft successful.

The home secretary complained about a lack of public awareness and weak communication by Pesco for the prevention of power theft and bills recovery and directed the company to display banners of the awareness campaign in streets, mohallahs and markets immediately.

He also ordered the start of an awareness campaign on TV channels and newspapers.

The secretary ordered a strict action against illegal housing societies, including posh areas of the province, over power theft.

He directed the deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners and police officials of the province, who are part of task force committees at district and tehsil levels, to share data on the clampdown on power theft with the Performance Management and Reforms Unit of the chief secretary’s office on a daily basis for examination.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2023