In Hyderabad, the electricity utility HESCO gathered its leadership to confront a crisis as old as the grid itself: the slow hemorrhage of power and public trust that occurs when infrastructure ages, theft goes unchecked, and citizens lose faith in the institutions meant to serve them. The meeting, led by CEO Faizullah Dahiri, marked a deliberate attempt to hold two imperatives together — rigorous enforcement against electricity theft and a more humane, accountable relationship with ordinary consumers. It is a tension familiar to public utilities across the developing world, where the line bet