Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed that the installation of smart meters across the country is essential and called for strict action at every level to eradicate electricity theft. He was chairing a meeting on matters related to the Power Division in Islamabad today.

According to Radio Pakistan, the Prime Minister also directed the preparation of village-level solarization projects to effectively tackle load shedding in rural areas. He gave instructions to conduct a technical audit of the billing systems of electricity distribution companies and advised officials to develop key performance indicators with time-bound targets to evaluate the performance of distribution companies.

Shehbaz Sharif announced that the best-performing distribution company will be given a national award in recognition of its performance. The meeting was briefed on the performance of electricity distribution companies and it was informed that both technical and commercial losses are gradually declining.

The meeting highlighted that the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), and Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) recorded the lowest transmission and distribution losses during the last fiscal year. It was further informed that during fiscal year 2025-26, IESCO, LESCO, GEPCO, Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), and Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) achieved 100 percent recovery of dues.

DISCO Support Units have been established in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Lahore, Multan, and Hazara to help curb electricity theft, improve recoveries, and address technical issues more effectively. The briefing further stated that the first phase of the installation of the Asset Performance Management System at the transformer level will be completed by 30 September this year, which is expected to improve transformer monitoring and contribute to reducing electricity theft and load shedding.

Moreover, a proposal is under consideration to install 16.2 million single-phase Advanced Metering Infrastructure meters in the Multan, Lahore, Peshawar, Hazara, and Quetta regions.

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