HARIPUR, Nov 11: Members of Pesco’s electricity theft detection squad have issued bills amounting to Rs1.23 million to 243 subscribers who used illegal means to siphon off power though different means in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, official sources said here on Friday.

Sources close to the detection squad of Pesco’s city division in Haripur said that some industrial and commercial units were among such subscribers. The rest of the power pilferers were domestic subscribers.

The detection squad has lodged FIRs against the power pilferers under a clause of the Electricity Act 1910. While some had illegally connected their homes or businesses to the main supply line, others had tampered with the new plastic cover (PC) meters they had been given.

Said Ghafar, deputy manager of Pesco’s city division, told Dawn that a three-pronged strategy had been adopted to check the menace of power pilferage in the area.

As part of the drive, Pesco had started replacing all the outdated black meters with new PC body meters in the entire area, Mr Ghafar said. “Secondly, meters are being installed in groups close to the nearest electric poles. Thirdly, the detection squad has been reactivated and given the task of purging the area of electricity theft through repeated checking,” he said.

In reply to a question, he said the detection squad was equipped with sophisticated gadgets and were performing their duties effectively.

He said the new strategy had helped the authorities to replace old and sluggish meters and put a stop to power pilferage to a greater extent. In reply to another question, Mr Ghafar said that the new PC meters were not faster than the old ones.

He said the recovery position of outstanding dues was satisfactory and expressed the hope that Pesco would plug the targeted line losses and recover outstanding bills from defaulters at the end of the current fiscal year.