LESCO Intensifies Anti-Theft Drive: 489 Cases Registered Across Lahore, Kasur, and Sheikhupura

The Anti-Theft Directorate of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), operating in close coordination with Punjab Police and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), has escalated its district-wide campaign against illegal power connections, lodging 489 First Information Reports (FIRs) and arresting dozens of chronic power thieves in a single week.

Details of the Operation: Five Districts Under Strict Surveillance

Special surveillance teams equipped with optical meter scanners, transformer load telemetry analyzers, and aerial thermal imaging drones conducted comprehensive raids across high-loss feeders in Lahore (Shahdara, Baghbanpura, Mughalpura, and Samanabad), Kasur (Chunian, Kot Radha Kishan), Sheikhupura (Muridke, Ferozewala), Okara (Depalpur, Renala Khurd), and Nankana Sahib.

The raids uncovered widespread fraudulent practices, including direct hook (kunda) connections on 11kV lines, bypassed digital optical displays, remote-controlled frequency shifters, and tempered CT/PT units in industrial plastic molding and cold-storage facilities.

How Power Theft Directly Impacts Law-Abiding Consumers

Electricity theft is not just a financial loss for the government; it creates immediate, hazardous consequences for ordinary neighborhood consumers:

• Transformer Burnouts & Voltage Drops: Illegal hook connections draw unmetered, excessive loads that overload local pole-mounted transformers (PMTs), leading to frequent transformer explosions and prolonged neighborhood blackouts.
• Unscheduled Feeder Tripping: When line losses on an 11kV feeder surpass NEPRA category thresholds, LESCO is mandated to enforce load management, subjecting honest paying households to forced load shedding.
• Safety Hazards & Fire Risks: Crudely spliced wires hanging from low-tension overhead poles pose severe electrocution hazards during monsoon downpours and storms.

Critical Advice for Tenants and Landlords

With the enforcement drive intensifying, innocent tenants and property owners can easily become embroiled in legal disputes if previous occupants engaged in meter tampering.

Follow this protection checklist:

1. Audit the Meter Box Seal: Ensure the official plastic security seal stamped with the LESCO monogram is intact on the meter casing. Never allow private electricians to break meter seals.
2. Inspect Meter Reading History: Before signing a rental agreement, check the 12-month historical consumption table on the physical bill to confirm that monthly units align with actual usage.
3. Report Meter Display Malfunctions Immediately: If your digital meter display goes blank, flickers, or shows error codes (e.g. 'Err 01', 'Reverse Phase'), file an official written complaint at your SDO office immediately to avoid being slapped with an 'unauthorized tampering' detection bill.