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0.65m Karachi residents using electricity illegally: Ashraf

* Minister tells National Assembly transmission, distribution losses for period from January to September amount to 15,083 gigawatts

By Irfan Bukhari

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf told the National Assembly on Wednesday that around 0.65 million people in Karachi were involved in electricity thefts.

“As many as 0.65 million residents of Karachi use electricity through illegal means,” said Ashraf while replying to a question on transmission and distribution losses. The minister said NEPRA had given targets to distribution companies to control line losses.

He told the House that transmission and distribution losses for the period from January to September 2009 were 15,083 giga watts. He said that over the last nine months, 916,190 cases of electricity theft had been registered in the country.

“At least 250 mega watts of electricity were preserved in the country by advancing clocks by an hour over the last six months,” he said.

Replying to a question by Riaz Fatiyana on the December 31 deadline for an end to power outages, the minister did not give an exact date for an end to load shedding, saying the government would bring the situation under control soon.

He also told the House that a process was underway to purchase electricity from Iran, and “in the next five years, 1,000 mega watts of electricity per year would be purchased from Iran”. He said there was no proposal under consideration to purchase electricity from China.

Replying to another question, Ashraf told the House that the Asian Development Bank had shown interest in financing for Diamer Basha Dam project, but no firm commitment had yet been made. “The amount of a proposed loan by ADB has been initially indicated at $3 to 5 billion,” he added.

Federal Petroleum Minister Naveed Qamar said the government had no plan to increase the price of CNG.

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