Power sector suffers Rs589b loss

As consumers start facing the sweltering heat of summer and the pain of load-shedding, the power sector seems to be getting out of control of the Shehbaz Sharif-led government as electricity theft and less-than-required bill recoveries are estimated to have caused a loss of Rs589 billion so far in the current financial year. With hefty losses and unchecked electricity stealing, the government has ruled out any plans to hand over control of power distribution companies (DISCOs) to provinces. Instead, it has decided to launch a study for chalking out different workable models to improve the performance of these companies. It believes that the handing over of DISCOs to provinces will increase financial burden of the federal government. Regarding the proposal of private sector participation in the power sector, the government noted that a decision in that regard was made by the caretaker government without any concrete workable plan.