Islamabad:
Pakistan loses RS250 billion annually
The committee, President of Muhammad Idrees, was informed that K-Electric could now withdraw up to 600 Megawatts (MW) electricity from National Grid, which brought its total power access to 2,000 MW.
The Minister’s statement came under a proposal from committee member Rana Sikandar Hayat, who called on the issuance of new relations with housing communities to increase consumption. “If demand messages are issued, we will install the connections,” the minister said.
“Power theft is not RS500 billion as claimed – it’s RS250 billion annually,” Leghari added. Hayat pointed out that the remaining amount was due to unpaid bills.
Malik Anwar Taj raised public concerns about excessive invoicing as the use crossed the threshold of 200 units. He demanded that the committee included this issue in the agenda. “Why does the bill save so drastically for only one additional device?” He asked.
While informing the committee, officials said any error in the Jamshoro network led to a complete blackout over the entire Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) network. They explained that the failure of Jamshoro Grid disturbed the electricity supply to 13 cities. The minister replied that Jamshoro Grid went offline only under national blackouts. “I don’t remember any isolated misconception in the Jamshoro network,” he explained.
However, Hesco officials maintained that previous events had actually resulted in errors in Jamshoro that led to widespread power cuts. They called for the establishment of an alternative 220 kV grid station to Hesco, which should be connected via Matiari or Nawabshah.
Committee Member Syed Waseem Hussain maintained that the error of Jamshoro -grid affected Karachi as well. Leghari rejected this claim and said that the Jamshoro grille “has no connection with K-electric” and its system was separated; Therefore, “it does not affect Karachi”.
The Minister shared updates on K-Electric’s integration with National Grid. K-electric officials informed the committee that the tool had established four interconnection points with the national network with a total capacity of over 2,000 MW.
They said that two large grid stations -500 kV kki -grille and 220 kV dhabeji -grid -had been successfully activated, adding that the KKI network during a temporary arrangement withdrew up to 1,600 MW from the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) network.
The officials also stated the committee that a new connection point was under construction between K2/K3 and PQEPCL, which is linked via a 500 kv NTDC transmission line. This line is expected to be completed by the end of July 2025. “When fully constructed and integrated with the KKI network, K-electric’s drag capacity from National Grid is expected to reach about 2,100 MW,” an official said. A K-ELECTRIC official stated that this improved capacity depended on regulatory approvals and the implementation of technical feasibility.
