The Power Division has refuted reports related to transferring the control of five electricity distribution companies to the Pakistan Army to improve their performance.

“There is no truth in the news of transferring of the distribution companies to the army,” the Power Division spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

The clarification came a couple of days after media reported that the federal cabinet would approve the establishment of Performance Management Units (PMUs) in five high loss-making power distribution companies (Discos) under a serving brigadier of the Pakistan Army to improve their performance.

The PMU would also include officers from the Pakistan Administrative Service, the Federal Investigation Agency and intelligence agencies.

The PMUs were supposed to be established in QESCO (Quetta), PESCO (Peshawar), SEPCO (Sukkur), MEPCO (Multan) and HESCO (Hyderabad).

“No change is being made in the management of Discos,” the statement said and reiterated that Discos were not being handed over to another entity.

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Last year, the caretaker administration said that it was setting up special task forces on provincial and district levels to combat massive electricity theft amid a revenue shortfall of Rs589 billion ($1.9 billion) in the power sector annually.

“We got the prime minister’s instructions to crack down on this, reduce the theft of electricity and recover revenue from those who do not pay the bills,” interim Energy Minister Muhammad Ali told reporters in Islamabad on September 06, 2023.

“We will establish a provincial-level task force, with the provincial secretary of energy or the home secretary leading it,” he said, “at the divisional level, a task force will be formed under the commissioner’s leadership, and at the district level, the deputy commissioner will head it and at the sub-district level, the assistant commissioner will be in charge, whereas we will oversee all these activities from Islamabad.”

He said that the government has all the data of the areas where electricity theft was more and would launch a crackdown to reduce the losses.

“The areas where the theft of electricity is less – some 15 to 30 per cent – we will intervene by using technology and rely on smart metering and other solutions,” he added.