PESHAWAR: Widespread and excessive electric loadshedding has sparked intense public outrage throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Citizens in both urban and rural areas are suffering from daily power outages lasting 16 to 20 hours, with Peshawar Electric Supply Company justifying the practice by labelling certain feeders as “high-loss”, according to a statement issued here on Sunday.

According to Nepra’s standards and regulations, penalising bill-paying consumers for losses due to theft or non-recovery is outright illegal.

Yet, Pesco continues to implement blanket outages across entire communities, severely affecting households, businesses, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities.

Civil society groups have condemned this policy as a form of collective punishment and urged Nepra, the power sector regulator, to intervene immediately.

Taimur Kamal, coordinator of Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network, strongly criticised Pesco’s conduct, stating, “This is not just mismanagement, it is criminal negligence. Pesco is shifting the burden of electricity theft and poor recovery onto honest consumers, which is completely unacceptable. Nepra must take immediate action.”

Ghayur Khattak, ANP leader and Pabbi tehsil chairman in Nowshera district, said, “Why are responsible, bill-paying citizens being punished? This is a clear violation of fundamental human rights. Nepra and the federal government must take serious notice of Pesco’s irresponsibility.”

He further added, “Under the Nepra Act of 1997 and the Performance Standards (Distribution) Rules of 2005, Pesco is legally obligated to provide fair and uninterrupted electricity to all consumers. Nepra fined Pesco Rs50 million in April 2024 for violating these rules, yet the illegal practice continues unchecked.”

Despite widespread electricity theft in many areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pesco has failed to coordinate effective enforcement with law enforcement agencies, as permitted under the Prevention of Electricity Theft Act, 2021. Instead, the company is punishing regular, bill-paying customers through indiscriminate outages – a gross injustice by any standard.

Civil society organisations, political leaders, and affected citizens have made the urgent demands from Nepra, the ministry of energy, and the federal government to immediately end loadshedding, ensure uninterrupted electric supply to paying consumers and take a strict legal action against Pesco for negligence and regulatory violations.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2025