The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has issued a show-cause notice to K-Electric (KE) over its continued practice of prolonged, unannounced load shedding and failure to comply with regulatory directives—even affecting consumers who regularly pay their electricity bills.
The notice follows NEPRA’s determination that K-Electric did not provide a satisfactory response to an earlier explanation issued under the NEPRA (Fine) Regulations, 2021. According to NEPRA’s official statement, KE has been conducting load shedding at the feeder level, in defiance of regulatory instructions to shift to transformer-level load management. This practice has caused undue hardship to compliant consumers and is considered a violation of the NEPRA Act and the Performance Standards (Distribution) Rules, 2005.
NEPRA noted that between 2022 and 2024, it repeatedly instructed KE to perform targeted load shedding at the Pole Mounted Transformer (PMT) level. However, KE has consistently resorted to feeder-level load cuts, thereby penalising paying consumers for non-payment or electricity theft by others on the same feeders. The regulator emphasised that such actions are unacceptable and warned of legal consequences for continued non-compliance.
The show-cause notice coincided with further regulatory scrutiny, as the Power Division blocked a proposed relief of Rs 4.69 per unit for Karachi consumers under the April 2025 Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA) mechanism, citing KE’s non-compliance.
NEPRA explained that distribution companies are required to maintain and submit load shedding plans that allow for the disconnection of up to 30% of their connected load upon instructions from the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC). These plans must be structured with switchable blocks and shared with NTDC in advance. NEPRA further clarified that such disconnections should only be implemented during generation shortfalls or transmission constraints, and must follow NTDC’s instructions.
KE had previously claimed to have implemented an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system at the transformer level through a Rs 600 million project completed in December 2021. However, NEPRA’s review of the system revealed that, while KE has commercially benefited from the technology, it has not used it to protect paying consumers by shifting to PMT-level targeted load shedding, despite having the capability.
Public dissatisfaction was also evident during NEPRA’s recent FCA hearings, where residents of Karachi voiced strong concerns over excessive and indiscriminate power outages. These public complaints reinforced the Authority’s findings regarding unfair load management practices by KE.
The utility has previously been penalised, including a Rs 50 million fine, for similar violations.
In response to the latest show-cause notice, KE stated: “KE is currently reviewing the show-cause notice received from the NEPRA Authority. After a comprehensive review, we will submit our response within the timeframe set by the Authority.”
