KARACHI: Pakistan’s top electric power regulator has ordered K-Electric Limited to immediately cease unauthorized and excessive load shedding in Karachi, citing a systemic practice of penalizing paying consumers for commercial losses and electricity theft.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority issued a prohibitory order against the utility, directing it to stop unscheduled power outages and abandon a policy of disconnecting supply based on Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses. The directive follows an investigation that revealed widespread outages far exceeding the company’s own schedules, affecting more than 2.3 million consumers.
“Commercial defaults, theft, or high loss ratios on any specific feeder shall not serve as a justification to suspend electric power supply to compliant, paying consumers,” the order states.
NEPRA’s probe found that K-Electric, the sole power distributor for Karachi, has been enforcing load shedding based on a self-styled AT&C losses policy that has no legal recognition under the NEPRA Act or its license conditions. The regulator said data from 620 feeders showed that in the highest-loss categories, average daily outages reached 12 hours and 14 minutes, surpassing the utility’s declared 10-hour limit.
“All load management must strictly adhere to the parameters defined under the NEPRA Act, applicable legal framework and its license,” the authority said in its 11-page order.
The regulator also cited constitutional principles and a Peshawar High Court ruling linking access to electricity to the right to life under Article 9. It noted that the ongoing heatwave in Karachi has transformed the outages from an inconvenience into a public health emergency, disrupting water supplies, healthcare services and public transportation.
This marks the second major regulatory action against K-Electric in two years. NEPRA imposed a 50 million rupee fine on the company in April 2024 for similar violations, a penalty currently under appeal before the NEPRA Appellate Tribunal.
K-Electric is now required to submit a compliance report within 30 days. The regulator has also ordered the utility to deploy targeted anti-theft measures and install aerial bundled cables in high-loss areas instead of resorting to feeder-level disconnections.
“The solution to theft is targeted enforcement, not collective punishment,” the authority said. “The solution to revenue losses is improved billing and collection, not arbitrary feeder disconnections.”
The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry has filed formal complaints over commercial-based load shedding affecting industrial and commercial consumers. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has also reported that extended outages are disrupting telecom sites, forcing reliance on diesel generators and undermining energy efficiency goals.
NEPRA’s order reaffirms that load shedding in Pakistan is permitted only on technical grounds, such as system emergencies or generation shortfalls upon instruction from the National Transmission and Despatch Company.
K-Electric did not immediately respond to a request for comment.