ISLAMABAD   -   Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has convened a meeting on power sector today (Tuesday) over soaring electricity theft and power outages which have reached to up to 12 hours in the country.

Meeting of all the stakeholders of power sector has been convened on Tuesday to discuss the issue of increased loadshedding and theft of electricity, official source told The Nation. Urban areas of the country are facing up to 6 hours loadshedding, while in rural areas the outages duration is between 8 to 12 hours.

The power generation was 19800 megawatts, while demand was 26000 megawatts. The shortage is around 6200 megawatts. Interestingly, during the ongoing fiscal year, XWDiscos are paying over Rs 1.8 trillion as capacity payments to IPPs, owing to low demand. However, in summer season the distribution companies are unable to provide electricity to the consumers.

The country’s transmission capacity currently stands at 26000 MW and the existing demand can easily be met. The other main issue for the meeting is the electricity theft and less recoveries, which is apparently uncontrollable with the existing measures. During the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24, electricity theft and less recoveries are estimated to have caused a loss of approximately Rs590 billion.