Consumers of 11 KV Bashirabad-I, II feeders and 11 KV Shahi Bagh feeders will also have their power supply suspended. PHOTO: ARCHIVE
ISLAMABAD:
The federal government acknowledged Thursday that prolonged load shedding of more than 10 hours a day is being imposed on 2,223 electricity feeders across the country.
According to the written responses presented by the Minister of Power Division, Awais Leghari, during the National Assembly’s question hour, out of a total of 12,665 feeders across the country, extended load shedding is being carried out on 604 of the 814 feeders of Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO), 407 of the 707 of SEPCO, 174 of the 357 of TESCO, 642 of SEPCO’s 707, 174 of TESCO’s 357, 642 of 1,376, 322 of Hesco’s 747 and 37 of Hazara Electric Supply Company’s 286 feeders.
In contrast, no feeders under LESCO, GEPCO OR FESCO are experiencing load shedding exceeding 10 hours.
The response further stated that between July and December 2025, electricity consumers used 8.78 billion units of energy. The total number of electricity consumers served by 11 distribution companies currently amounts to 39.22 million.
It was also revealed that the number of protected electricity consumers has risen sharply to 21.55 million, up from 9.5 million in October 2021, reflecting the growing financial strain on households amid rising tariffs and unstable supply.
On generation, the Energy 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, underscoring the rapid shift of consumers towards solar power amid unreliable grid supply.
The written response also revealed alarming financial losses in the energy sector. In the last two years, losses in electricity transmission have exceeded Rs 600 billion. In fiscal year 2024-25, transmission losses amounted to Rs 284 billion, while losses in fiscal year 2023-24 amounted to Rs 322 billion.
Among distribution companies, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) recorded the highest losses at Rs 96 billion, followed by K-Electric Supply Company (KESCO) at Rs 51 billion, Lesco at Rs 46 billion, SEPCO at Rs 37 billion and HESCO at Rs 22 billion.
The government also revealed that Rs 310 billion is recovered annually from electricity consumers to repay the circular debt of the power sector, further increasing the financial burden on households already facing high tariffs and prolonged outages.
After question hour concluded, the NA session was suspended indefinitely.
