KARACHI: K-Electric has proposed a collaborative formula to eliminate electricity load-shedding in Karachi, focusing on high-loss feeders that are responsible for most outages.
Speaking to the Council of Economic and Energy Journalists (CEJ), KE CEO Moonis Alvi revealed that 300 out of the city’s 2,129 feeders contribute to 87% of power losses. He suggested that if the government takes over management and bill recovery in these high-loss areas, KE could move significantly closer to making Karachi a load-shedding-free city.
Alvi stated that 70% of Karachi is already exempt from load-shedding. He emphasized KE’s commitment to deploying advanced technology to curb electricity theft and warned that tampering with pole-mounted transformers (PMTs) can cause technical faults that take up to three days to resolve.
Regarding the utility’s Multi-Year Tariff (MYT), Alvi assured that it would not burden ordinary consumers but would instead attract foreign investment. He added that NEPRA would conduct annual reviews of the MYT based on investment performance.
With effective implementation of MYT, Karachi could be up to 90% load-shedding-free by 2030, with the number of power consumers expected to reach five million and transmission capacity increasing to 5,000MW.
Alvi also noted KE’s readiness to supply electricity to captive power industries, aligning with timelines agreed upon with the government and stakeholders. He highlighted increased industrial demand in the city, reflecting a broader economic revival.
