The Sindh High Court has disposed of a case over K-Electric load shedding in Karachi’s SITE Industrial Area after the power regulator NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) told the utility to curb unannounced and excessive outages and to reduce or end them in the petitioners’ localities within three to six months.
Nineteen industrial units had approached the court against unannounced and prolonged cuts in the industrial zone. During the hearing, NEPRA placed its report before the bench. A NEPRA deputy director said a decision had already been issued on the industrial complaints and that K-Electric had been directed to stop load shedding that is undeclared, outside the fixed schedule, or more than required.
What NEPRA ordered K-Electric to do
According to the NEPRA report summarised in court, supply to consumers who pay their bills regularly cannot be disconnected on the basis of electricity theft, non-payment of dues, or high losses on a feeder. Action, NEPRA said, should be taken against individual consumers involved in theft or default.
NEPRA also instructed that steps be taken so that K-Electric load shedding in the applicants’ areas is reduced or ended over the next three to six months. The court closed the petition in light of that report rather than issuing a separate long judgment of its own.
Industry complaint about daily outages
Counsel for the petitioners, Raja Naveed, told the court that the industrial area was facing 10 to 12 hours of load shedding every day. He argued that the prolonged cuts were disrupting industrial activity and businesses in the zone.
That claim framed why the factories sought relief: prolonged daily outages in an industrial belt hit production, orders and employment even when units say they clear their bills. The regulator’s response centres on stopping off-schedule or excess cuts and on a time-bound effort to ease outages where the complainants are based.
What happens next in SITE Area
With the petition disposed of on the strength of NEPRA’s findings, the immediate next step sits with K-Electric: ending unannounced and excess shedding, and taking measures aimed at cutting or removing outages in the petitioners’ SITE Area localities inside the three-to-six-month window set out by the regulator.
Consumers and factory managers in the zone will watch whether K-Electric load shedding on the ground falls in line with that timetable and whether scheduled supply becomes more predictable. NEPRA’s separation of collective feeder penalties from individual theft or default cases also means paying customers should not, under that direction, lose power because of others’ losses on the same line.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sindh High Court ne SITE Area ki factories ki darkhwast NEPRA ki report par khatam kar di. NEPRA ne K-Electric ko kaha hai ke baghair elaan, schedule se hat kar ya zyada load shedding band kare. Petitioners ke ilaqon mein teen se chheh maah mein load shedding kam ya khatam karne ke qadam uthaye jayen. Jo log regular bill bharte hain, unki bijli doosron ki chori ya feeder losses ki wajah se nahi kati jaani chahiye.
