NA panel presses KE on load-shedding, power theft

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Power Division on Thursday held a critical meeting with K-Electric, raising serious concerns over persistent power outages, discriminatory load-shedding, and widespread electricity theft in the country's largest city.

The meeting, chaired by Muhammad Idrees, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Power Division, was attended by committee members and senior officials of K-Electric. Lawmakers voiced strong public dissatisfaction, particularly over load-shedding practices that continue to affect regular, bill-paying consumers.

Committee members stressed that citizens paying substantial monthly electricity bills are entitled to an uninterrupted and reliable power supply. They termed the practice of imposing load-shedding on entire localities due to theft in specific pockets "collective punishment" and unacceptable.

The committee noted that unreliable electricity supply has far-reaching consequences, disrupting livelihoods, education, healthcare services, and water supply, especially for low-income communities. Members highlighted that such outages undermine government welfare initiatives, including the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), which supports more than nine million families nationwide.

During the session, K-Electric sought the committee's support to convert an existing ordinance against electricity theft into permanent legislation, arguing that theft directly increases the burden on honest consumers. The utility also briefed the committee on infrastructure improvements, stating that its transmission capacity had been expanded from 200 MW to over 500 MW, while interconnection capacity with the National Grid had been increased to more than 2,000 MW with federal support.

The Standing Committee assured full backing for legislation to criminalize electricity theft but demanded immediate and tangible steps from K-Electric to protect compliant consumers.