ISLAMABAD - Chairman of Senate Committee on Power has said that Sindh Police and politicians are involved in electricity theft and the Discos employees are their accomplice.
Electricity theft is taking place in the colonies and offices of Sindh Police, said Chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Power, Senator Saifullah Abro here. 
The meeting of committee, that met with Saifullah Abro in the chair, commenced with an overview of all policies related to guidelines for setting up of IPPs. Secretary Power Division briefed the committee regarding policies formulated in 2002, 2006 and 2015. He informed the committee that a subsidy reform proposal has been approved by the Cabinet and added that this will ensure the equitable distribution of power. It was asserted that line losses and non-recovery are one of the main reasons for increase in circular debt. In a similar context, members inquired about electricity units that are provided free to DISCOs employees. It was also stressed that the reason for line losses is the use of archaic distribution lines and machinery. The Committee asserted that urban and rural territories must be divided to ensure ease of recoveries. 
Managing Director CPPA, Waseem Mukhtar informed the committee that the power sector circular debt is Rs 2280b. Secretary power Ali Raza Bhutta told the committee that in future subsidy will be only provided to the poor people. “We have paid Rs 90b to the IPPs which resulted in the decrease of circular debt,” the secretary informed. He said that loan of Rs 480b was obtained from banks and was used for paying off circular debt. He said that bank debt has now reached Rs 800b.Nepra has allowed 15 percent losses while the actual losses are around 17.4 percent, he added. He said that lack of investment is one of the reasons of technical losses. The annual losses due to not investing and inefficiency are Rs 67b. 
Senator Sana Jamali said that Balochistan is facing severe loadshedding these days. Secretary power said that due to disruption of supply from Iran the issue of power outages in Balochistan was exacerbated. While discussing the performance of QESCO, Committee members stressed the need for providing electricity to areas of Jaffarabad, Nasirabad and Gwadar. Member of the Chamber of Commerce Gwadar, who was present in the meeting, shared the plight of Gwadar and the way electricity shortfall and outages were shutting down businesses in Gwadar.  He said that the Fish Export facility in Gwadar has been shut due to the closing of 60 ice factories as a result of recurrent power outages in the city. Chairman Committee, Senator Saifullah Abro directed that CEO QESCO to visit Gwadar at the earliest to address the issues and find alternate solutions. 
Member Committee Hafiz Abdul Kareem asked that why TV fee is being charged in electricity bills. People with no TV and even mosques are getting TV fees in their bills, he added.
Discussing the Power Purchase Agreement between National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and K-Electric, the Committee directed that details must be provided to the Committee under Rule 181 of the Rules of Business and Conduct.