ACCORDING to media reports, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) is contemplating to place cut on the permissible losses by two per cent to 13.50 per cent from existing 15.49 per cent for the last two financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20. Reportedly, NEPRA says it will not punish the consumers any more for the increase in losses of which the inefficient DISCOs are solely responsible.
There are no two opinions that the power sector is plagued with serious malaises not because of price of electricity but due to inefficiency of DISCOs and this has also been highlighted by reports and studies by international donors. However, both the DISCOS and the Government have been in the habit of relying solely on the strategy of revising power tariff upward and this approach has created serious problems for consumers and challenges for the overall economy. In the first instance, there has been no worthwhile investment and focus on improvement and upgradation of transmission and distribution systems. Secondly, there is wide-scale power theft going on with the active connivance of officials of DISCOs. The policy of burdening power consumers through repeated tariff increases needs to be reversed as DISCOs are compensated for their inefficiency and make no attempt to improve the system. DISCOs should be given the option to improve or face losses. While improvement could take some time and also needs heavy investment, the DISCOs can bring their losses down by eliminating corruption and power theft through greater vigilance and accountability. There are areas of the country known for power theft but the State has failed to establish its writ and it seems thieves are most powerful than the combined might of the Federal and Provincial Governments. A comprehensive operation on a war footing is needed to address this chronic problem for the sake of consumers and DISCOs.
