LAHORE: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco), in the last 16 months, has detected as many as 165,572 connections where the consumers were pilfering electricity in all its circles of five districts (Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Kasur and Okara), during its ongoing anti-power theft campaign.

A Lesco spokesman told the media on Sunday that the company submitted applications for registration of FIRs against electricity thieves and so far 154,790 cases have been lodged in respective police stations, resulting in arrest of 44,573 suspects.

The spokesman said that power theft operations against electricity thieves are being conducted on the directives of the Federal Power Division and the Lesco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eng Shahid Haider is supervising these operations.

The Lesco chief vowed that the operations would continue without discrimination until the end of electricity theft.

Besides electricity pilferers, the Lesco officers and other employees who facilitate power theft, are also being proceeded against.

During the anti-power theft campaign, the spokesman added, large commercial consumers were also found involved in electricity theft. Among the severed connections, 5,091 are commercial, 1,639 agricultural, 344 industrial and 158,498 domestic, and they have been charged a total of 173,664,822 units as detection bill amounting to Rs6.587 billion.

Meanwhile, Lesco claims to have recovered Rs4.009 million from 201 chronic defaulters in all the five districts during the last 24 hours.

The spokesman says the company has recovered outstanding dues of Rs0.061m from 20 defaulters in Northern Circle; Rs 0.047m from 21 defaulters in Eastern Circle; Rs1.004m from 24 defaulters in Central Circle; Rs0.076m from 22 defaulters in Southern Circle; Rs0.012m from 16 defaulters in Nankana Sahib Circle; Rs0.052m from 45 defaulters in Sheikhupura Circle; Rs0.032m from 39 defaulters in Okara Circle; and Rs 0.025m from 14 defaulters in Kasur Circle.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2024