Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Power Division was apprised Monday that power distribution companies (DISCOs) were not being privatized.
The committee that met with Sardar Mehmood Khan Mazari in the chair was further informed that recovery of those feeders having losses would be outsourced alone.
Minister for Power Division Khurram Dastgir further said that it was imperative to eradicate power pilferage to reduce power tariffs. He added that all big consumers would be switched on Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) System by June.
He said around over 150,000 such consumers would be monitored live through the AMI System. He added that cheap electricity would be generated through solar energy while the quantity of electricity based on costly imported fuel would be minimized.
Khurram said a point was being set up in Southern Punjab to control power breakdown as in the winter season; electricity was supplied from South to North. He added that a cutout point would be set up to control county-wide power outages.
He said National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) would set up cutouts for power blackouts. He said there were some feeders in the country where 98 percent of people were not paying their bills.
He said line losses could not be reduced without IT-based transmission system monitoring. He suggested in a camera meeting on power pilferage and electricity bills issues.
The minister said that deferred bills of last year would be recovered from the consumers. Thar coal was being used in power generation, and 1,980 MW of electricity was generated through local coal, he said.
He said the total power generation from local Thar coal would touch 2,640 MW in the coming summer season.
Losses of Power Distribution Companies
Briefing the NA Panel, the officials of NTDC told that line losses witnessed an upward trend during the last five years. The NTDC losses were technical, and power theft was not included in it, they further said.
Briefing the committee on a budgetary proposal for the next fiscal year 2023-24, the officials informed that the Power Ministry sought Rs 298 billion for 102 development projects under the annual public sector development program (PSDP). Out of the total 102 development projects, 81 were ongoing, while 21 were new schemes.
They said that Rs 122 billion was proposed under the local component out of the total allocation, while Rs 176 billion was a foreign component for the next fiscal year.
