ISLAMABAD  -   The federal government has sought the help of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the ongoing anti-theft campaign and offered the province to take over the supply of power in Tribal Electric Supply Company (TESCO) region.

“PESCO and TESCO operate in province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These two organisations are among the low performing DISCOs which are contributing to ever increasing circular debt. During the current financial year, combined loss of Rs188 billion, which includes under recovery and loss above NEPRA’s threshold, is anticipated in PESCO and TESCO,” said a letter written by the Federal Minister for Power Division Awais Leghari to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur here on Friday.

The letter titled ‘Cooperation from government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in electricity anti-theft campaign in Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) and Tribal Electric Supply Company (TESCO)’ said that critical high loss areas identified in PESCO include DI Khan, Bannu, Karak, Kohat, Shangla and Ex-FR regions. TESCO operates in former tribal areas where there is serious problem of non-recovery and non-materialisation. Due to these factors, TESCO may incur loss of 51 billion in the current financial year.

“You would appreciate that sustainability of power sector is becoming questionable due to such bleeding of revenue and resource. To curb the issue of rampant theft, to reduce losses and improve recovery, government has launched a nation-wide anti-theft campaign. Success of this campaign depends on whole-hearted support of the provincial government and its authorities which is not currently available in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In this regard your specific interest is requested to ensure that support of police is available in PESCO so that anti-theft campaign is successfully implemented in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and menace of theft is rooted out.

There is a challenge of weak writ of the government in the operational jurisdiction of TESCO. Two possible resolutions: either, government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prepares a comprehensive plan to support TESCO in recovery and materialisation drive; or government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa takes over supply of power in TESCO region.

In this regard, the Prime Minister has recently constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Minister for Defence for consultative interaction with your government and other stakeholders. The committee will start deliberations with provincial government very soon and intends to visit province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to finalise a sustainable plan of action.

The Federal Minister for Power requested CM Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to indicate a convenient time for the meeting so that the issues can be discussed holistically for a joint strategy to improve the situation.