Report cites weaknesses in public sector DISCOs

NEPRA says power distribution sector has shown uneven progress on health, safety standards

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan's power distribution sector has continued to show uneven progress on health, safety and environmental (HSE) standards, said the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority's (Nepra) HSE Performance Evaluation Report for fiscal year 2024-25.

The report points to persistent weaknesses among several public-sector distribution companies. Utilities such as Lahore, Quetta and Hyderabad electricity supplying companies were rated in the "fair" category, indicating gaps in safety governance, contractor oversight and field-level implementation of safety procedures. Others, including Islamabad, Peshawar and Sukkur electricity supplying firms, were only assessed as "good" and showed inconsistent performance across key indicators, suggesting that improvements have yet to be embedded into mature and sustainable HSE management systems.

Within the distribution segment, only a limited number of public-sector utilities, including Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and tribal areas electricity supplying companies, achieved "outstanding" ratings during the evaluation period. While these companies demonstrated comparatively stronger compliance, their results showed greater year-to-year variation when compared with top-ranked performers. K-Electric was placed in the "outstanding" category with the highest score of 91 out of 100.

Nepra's annual evaluation covers generation, transmission and distribution licensees and assesses them against 20 standardised categories outlined in the Power Safety Code. These include accident prevention measures, contractor safety management, documentation quality, emergency preparedness and the effectiveness of HSE management systems. Scores are capped at 100 and classified into five performance tiers ranging from "unsatisfactory" to "outstanding."

Beyond distribution companies, the report highlights generally stronger and more consistent performance among power generation licensees, many of which recorded high scores across multiple years. Transmission companies showed mixed results, reflecting the operational challenges associated with managing extensive high-voltage networks spread over large geographic areas.