Karachi Power Crisis Prompts Sindh High Court to Demand NEPRA Infrastructure Audit of K-Electric

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The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices on July 8, 2025, to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and K-Electric in response to prolonged and unscheduled load-shedding in Karachi. The action followed a petition filed by Jamaat-e-Islami town chairpersons and a member of the city council. A two-judge bench, comprising Justices Muhammad Faisal Kamal Alam and Muhammad Hasan Akber, directed NEPRA’s regional head and a federal law officer to appear in court on July 25, 2025.

The petitioners alleged that K-Electric was conducting up to eight hours of load-shedding per day in various areas, and that NEPRA had failed to take meaningful regulatory action beyond issuing a notice earlier in May.

NEPRA had issued a formal show-cause notice to K-Electric on June 23, 2025, citing forced load-shedding and failure to comply with grid code protocols. The regulator emphasized that distribution companies must adhere to structured load-shedding procedures and coordinate with the National Transmission and Despatch Company. NEPRA also imposed a fine of Rs 50 million for discriminatory shutdown practices that affected paying customers, particularly on feeders with high levels of power theft or non-payment.

Karachi residents have long faced frequent outages, especially during minor weather events, raising concerns about K-Electric’s infrastructure and investment practices. Since its privatization in 2005, K-Electric has remained the only vertically integrated utility serving Karachi and its surrounding areas, providing electricity to approximately 3.7 million customers. Despite this, many areas continue to experience power cuts, often due to losses in transmission and distribution and aging grid infrastructure.

The SHC’s intervention underscores growing scrutiny of regulatory oversight and utility performance in Pakistan’s energy sector. While public criticism of K-Electric and NEPRA continues to mount, there is no confirmed evidence that the court ordered NEPRA to conduct a comprehensive infrastructure survey by August 12, 2025. As such, any claims of specific deadlines or directives beyond the July 25 hearing remain unverified.