Consumers of 11 KV Bashirabad-I, II and 11 KV Shahi Bagh feeders will also have their electricity suspended. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The federal government admitted on Thursday that prolonged load shedding of more than 10 hours a day was imposed on 2,223 power lines across the country.
According to written responses submitted by Minister for Power Division Awais Leghari during Question Hour in the National Assembly, out of a total of 12,665 power lines nationwide, extensive load shedding is underway on 604 of 814 feeders of Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO), 407 of 707 of SEPCO, 174 of 357 of TESCO, 642 of Pesco’s 357. 1,376, 322 of Hesco’s 747 and 37 of Hazara Electric Supply Company’s 286 feeders.
On the other hand, no departure under LESCO, GEPCO OR FESCO experiences load shedding for more than 10 hours.
The response further stated that between July and December 2025, electricity consumers consumed 8.78 billion units of electricity. The total number of electricity consumers served by 11 distribution companies now stands at 39.22 million.
It was also revealed that the number of protected electricity consumers rose sharply to 21.55 million, up from 9.5 million in October 2021, reflecting the growing financial pressure on households amid rising tariffs and unstable supplies.
On the generation side, the Power Division informed the House that as of December 2025, the country’s net metering capacity had reached 7,000 megawatts, while off-grid solar capacity stood at 12.62 megawatts, highlighting the rapid shift of consumers to solar energy amid unreliable supply from the grid.
The written response also revealed alarming financial losses within the power sector. Over the past two years, power transmission losses have exceeded 600 billion rupees. In FY 2024-25, transportation losses stood at Rs 284 billion, while losses in FY 2023-24 stood at Rs 322 billion.
Among distribution companies, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) recorded the highest losses at Rs96 billion, followed by K-Electric Supply Company (KESCO) at Rs51 billion, Lesco at Rs46 billion, SEPCO at Rs37 billion and HESCO at Rs22 billion.
The government also revealed that 310 billion rupees were recovered annually from electricity consumers to repay the power sector’s circular debt, further increasing the financial burden on households already facing high tariffs and prolonged outages.
After the conclusion of Question Time, the NA session was adjourned indefinitely.
