NEPRA Declares K-Electric's Loss Based Load Shedding Illegal, What It Means for Karachi Property

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has ordered K-Electric to immediately stop unannounced, unscheduled, and excessive load shedding across Karachi, banning the utility from cutting power to entire feeders based on aggregate technical and commercial losses, a practice the regulator found unlawfully penalises paying consumers. The order was issued 1 September 2026, following an investigation prompted by a growing number of consumer complaints raised during NEPRA's monthly fuel price adjustment hearings.

What NEPRA Actually Found

NEPRA determined that K-Electric had been relying on a self styled AT&C loss policy that carries no legal recognition under the NEPRA Act, and that the utility was also exceeding its own declared outage schedules. Under this practice, entire feeders carrying commercial losses, meaning electricity theft and non payment by some users, were being shut down for hours at a time, even though other consumers on those same feeders paid their bills regularly and in full. NEPRA stated plainly that consumers who pay their bills regularly cannot be punished for the failures of others, and ordered K-Electric to instead disconnect the individual connections of specific consumers found involved in electricity theft or persistent non payment, rather than cutting power to entire feeders indiscriminately.

A Genuine, Multi Year Regulatory Pattern, Not a Sudden Decision

This order is the culmination of a documented enforcement escalation stretching back at least to 2022. NEPRA has stated that between 2022 and 2024, it repeatedly instructed K-Electric to shift to targeted load shedding at the Pole Mounted Transformer level rather than cutting entire feeders, but the utility consistently continued feeder level cuts instead, penalising paying consumers for losses caused by others sharing the same feeder. The regulator has noted that K-Electric had previously implemented an Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Automated Meter Reading system at the transformer level through a Rs600 million project completed in December 2021, and found that while the utility had commercially benefited from this technology, it had not used it to protect paying consumers through targeted load shedding despite having the technical capability to do so. NEPRA issued a formal show cause notice over this non compliance in June 2025, following which it concluded legal proceedings and imposed a Rs50 million fine on K-Electric. This latest order confirms that, despite that fine, K-Electric had still not meaningfully changed its operational procedures, prompting the regulator to issue this more comprehensive prohibitory order.

The Network Upgrade Requirement

Beyond banning the loss based feeder cuts, NEPRA has directed K-Electric to install Aerial Bundled Cables, commonly known as ABC cables, and to prepare and submit a comprehensive plan for their deployment specifically to reduce both technical and commercial losses across the network. Aerial Bundled Cables are insulated cable bundles that reduce the physical opportunity for illegal tapping and electricity theft compared to conventional bare overhead wires, making them a genuine, infrastructure level tool for addressing the underlying loss problem rather than simply shifting the burden of unresolved losses onto compliant customers.

Why This Practice Draws National Regulatory Attention

K-Electric is not the only Pakistani distribution company NEPRA has penalised for this exact practice. The regulator has separately fined QESCO and PESCO Rs75 million combined for AT&C loss based load shedding violations, finding in that case that PESCO's technical and distribution losses had actually increased year over year despite substantial operations and maintenance funding, contributing significantly to the country's broader circular debt problem. This pattern across multiple distribution companies suggests loss based load shedding has been a systemic practice nationally, not an isolated Karachi specific issue, even though this particular order addresses K-Electric directly.

What Remains to Be Seen

K-Electric has not yet confirmed how quickly it will comply with the order to shift toward individual, targeted disconnections, nor has a timeline been established for the required ABC cable installation plan. Given the utility's documented history of continuing feeder level cuts even after earlier NEPRA instructions and a prior fine, compliance monitoring will matter as much as the order itself in determining whether Karachi consumers actually see a practical change in outage patterns.

What This Means for Karachi Property Values and Rental Demand

Reliable electricity supply is a genuine, material factor in Karachi's residential and commercial property values, rental demand, and operating costs, and this order carries direct relevance for properties specifically located on feeders that have experienced prolonged, loss related outages. If K-Electric implements individual, theft targeted disconnections as ordered rather than blanket feeder cuts, compliant paying households and businesses on historically high loss feeders could see a genuine, meaningful improvement in supply reliability, a change that could support both property desirability and rental demand in previously underserved pockets of the city. The required ABC cable installation, if carried out at meaningful scale, would represent a genuine, lasting infrastructure upgrade to Karachi's distribution network over time. Property owners, tenants, and investors evaluating specific neighbourhoods should watch for K-Electric's actual compliance and any published ABC cable rollout plan as the real indicators of change, rather than assuming this regulatory order alone guarantees an immediate improvement in supply reliability.

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Sources

1.National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, official website

2.Wikipedia, K-Electric

3.[Wikipedia, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Electric_Power_Regulatory_Authority)