Fines imposed on five power firms for ‘illegal loadshedding’
By
April 6, 2024
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) fined five power distribution companies, including K-Electric, Rs50 million each for doing too much load shedding based on commercial reasons. This is the first time Nepra has fined companies for this, instead of just giving warnings. The companies were fined because they were cutting off electricity to everyone when only a few people weren’t paying their bills.
Nepra found out about this during hearings and complaints from the public. They looked into it and found that the companies were doing this based on their own rules, not following the laws. Nepra asked the companies to explain themselves, but their reasons weren’t good enough. The companies blamed the government’s policies and economic conditions for their actions.
Nepra said the companies should find other ways to deal with financial problems, like improving billing and fixing technical issues. They also said the companies need to be more open and fair to all customers.
Some of K-Electric’s areas still had more load shedding than they were supposed to, according to Nepra’s reports. Nepra said load shedding should only happen for technical reasons, not just because some customers pay less. Public sector companies admitted to not following the rules properly and blamed the government for it. The load shedding hours ranged from 2.5 to 10 hours, and the companies were accused of hiding their problems instead of fixing them.
