KARACHI is country’s largest commercial city, its financial engine, and home to millions of consumers who pay some of the country’s highest electricity bills. Yet the city’s electricity system remains controlled by one dominant private utility; K-Electric (KE). The company’s own profile says it is Pakistan’s only vertically integrated power utility, managing generation, transmission and distribution, and serving more than 3.7 million customers across a 6,500 sq-km licensed area, including Karachi and nearby regions of Sindh and Balochistan. This makes KE more than a normal company. It should be a public-interest institution.

As things stand, KE has become, for many Karachi residents, a menace to live with; powerful, unavoidable, protected by systems, and difficult for the ordinary people to challenge.

The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) was privatised in 2005, and the KE took over with the promise that private management would bring efficiency, investment, better service and professional accountability. The reality has been rather different, marked by voltage fluctuations, unplanned breakdowns, frequent trans-former faults, long delays in restoration, overbilling and weak response mecha-nisms. The core issue is not electricity failure. The deeper issue is accountability failure.

KE officially provides several complaint channels. Its website also lists corporate contact numbers and customer care email addresses. However, the real complaint from consumers is that these channels often operate like a wall rather than a bridge. A call centre can register a complaint, but the caller cannot reach the responsible official. The consumer receives a complaint number, but not transparency, responsibility or a permanent solution.

This is where the problem becomes serious. A public utility cannot hide behind automated systems and outsourced call centres. Electricity is not a luxury product. It is essential infrastructure. When wires burn, transformers fail, voltage damages appliances, or supply remains suspended for hours, the affected citizen needs access to a responsible office and a named authority. A complaint number without accountability is not customer service; it is simply paperwork.

KE claims that since privatisation it has invested billions and even plans further investments. More than its investment profile, the consumers want to see the end result of those investments. Karachi does not need investment announcements. It needs visible, tangible improvement.

The company remains financially and operationally significant. But profitability and technical capacity must be matched with public responsibility. A utility cannot celebrate financial results while consumers are left struggling to get due answers for recurring faults.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) is the regulatory body, while the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is res-

ponsible for corporate oversight of listed public-interest companies. KE is listed as a public-interest company. Therefore, its governance, public disclosure, complaint mechanisms, investment claims and consumer compensation practices should not be treated as private internal matters. They directly affect millions of people.

If a listed public utility operates as a monopoly in Pakistan’s largest city, its accountability standards must be higher than those of an ordinary private company.

Amir Esbhani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2026