KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday issued notices to the secretary of Power Division, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and K-Electric on a petition against disconnection of power supply to an entire neighbourhood in Karachi.

A two-judge constitutional bench, headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed, also put a federal law officer on notice for Jan 20 and directed the respondents to file comments by the next hearing.

Citing the power ministry, Nepra and KE as respondents, petitioner Usama Ahmed Usmani submitted that he, along with his family, lived at Data Nagar in Orangi Town and had regularly been paying his electricity bills.

He said the KE categorised him as a “star customer”. However, he said the utility had on Jan 13 illegally disconnected the power supply of the entire area from a pole-mounted transformer (PMT) by declaring the area as “high loss zone”.

He maintained that like him many other consumers were also paying their power bills on a regular basis, but the entire locality was punished by the tility.

KE policy to punish entire locality due to default of a few individuals is violation of Nepra Act, articles 4 and 25 of Constitution, SHC told

The petitioner, who is also a SHC staffer, argued that the Consumer Service Manual 2021 approved by Nepra had only authorised the KE to disconnect the power supply of a defaulting customer or the one using illegal connection.

He contended that the KE policy to collectively punish the entire neighbourhood due to default of a few individuals was not only the violation of the Nepra Act and relevant rules but also sheer infringement of Articles 4 and 25 of the Constitution.

He maintained the right of electricity has been recognised as a fundamental right by the superior and higher judiciary while Section 21 of the Nepra Act 1997 bound the power utility to provide power to all the customers on a non-discriminatory basis and to follow performance standards laid down by the regulatory authority.

The petitioner pleaded to declare the impugned action of KE as illegal, unconstitutional and without jurisdiction and sought directives for respondents to immediately restore the electricity of the area.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2026