TWO recent developments augur well for the power sector of the country sparking confidence that woes of both the government as well as consumers would mitigate in the times to come. The Federal Government has decided to appoint officers from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other spy agencies in the power distribution companies (DISCOs) to end corruption. And Minister for Energy Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari has categorically stated that the government has no plans to end the policy of solar net-metering.
Theft and line losses are at the heart of the challenges facing the power sector as experts believe there would be no need to increase power tariff time and again if losses worth several hundred billion rupees are stemmed through a workable strategy. It is not a new phenomenon as large-scale electricity theft is going on for a long time in different parts of the country and successive governments miserably failed to address the problem satisfactorily. In many areas hundreds of thousands of households openly resort to Kunda system while there are fully known areas where electricity bills have accumulated for years, power companies are unable to recover colossal dues and their officials are threatened of dire consequences if they dare try to disconnect power supply to such consumers. In these areas, the issue is closely linked to security of the personnel of distribution companies and law and order situation and this issue can only be addressed with the effective cooperation of the provincial governments that have the necessary tools at their disposal to force such criminals to abide by the law. In this backdrop, the decision to appoint a Deputy Director level officer from FIA to the electric supply companies on a permanent basis is a welcome development. This might have a deterring effect in cases where electricity is being stolen by individuals, commercial and industrial consumers in collusion with the officials concerned. However, identification of the problem in areas of major concern is not an issue as it is an open secret that consumers in these regions have illegal connections or they do not care to pay their bills. But the decision to appoint FIA officers in Discos reflect growing realization among policy and decision-makers to tackle the issue as relief to the consumers cannot be provided without addressing this problem satisfactorily. This also became evident when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said recently that the country could not afford electricity theft at a large scale amid the precarious and appalling economic situation, stressing to immediately make the strategy for the upgradation of transmission lines and reduction in line losses on a sustainable basis. The large-scale theft is a direct challenge to the writ of the state and a grand operation backed by Pakistan Army is needed to eliminate this menace. Technologies are also available to identify theft but regrettably the Government has no courage even to replace or install smart meters in theft-prone areas and implements the plan in Discos that are considered to be efficient. As for solar net-metering, rumours have been circulating for months about the possibility of the government switching over to gross metering in the face of increasing trend for installation of solar systems on the part of the citizens and businesses as part of their plans to get rid of back-breaking power bills. Net metering allows consumers to sell excess electricity produced by their solar system to their power distribution company, resulting in significant savings in their electricity bill for the month. But unfortunately, officials in the power ministry are wrongly advising the government to do away with the net metering system and adjust downward the tariff for solar power produced by households on the plea that the net metering subsidy goes to the richer segment of society from the average or low-income group. The Minister has, however, rejected media reports about a change in net metering policy and said instead the government would encourage the shift to solar power since the policy was the brainchild of the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who ordered to promote it in his last tenure as prime minister. Solar power is an environment friendly technological revolution and the government must not pay heed to vested interests who want to deprive people of the benefit of this revolution as the government would also benefit in the long run because grid dependence will be reduced and investment requirements will decrease, not only in transmission and distribution but also in generation.
