Discrimination in load assessment procedures: ABAD lodges complaint with NEPRA against KE

KARACHI: Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) has formally lodged a complaint in the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) against K-Electric over disparity in applying the diversity factor for load assessment.

In its formal complaint, ABAD accused K-Electric of implementing discriminatory practices in its load assessment procedures, creating an uneven playing field for smaller development projects.

According to ABAD’s formal complaint, K-Electric applies a diversity factor when assessing projects’ load and designing distribution schemes, but only for projects with a total assessed load exceeding 80kW.

However, projects falling below this arbitrary threshold are excluded from this consideration, despite identical load usage patterns among residents, ABAD said, suggesting that smaller projects may have been bearing disproportionate costs due to these discriminatory practices.

“This approach is completely unjustified,” ABAD stated in its complaint, highlighting that there appears to be “no technical or practical basis” for such selective application.

ABAD argued that this disparity had placed “unnecessary burdens” on developers and residents of smaller projects, effectively penalizing them without justification.

Therefore, ABAD has called for urgent intervention from NEPRA, requesting the regulatory body to direct K-Electric to implement a uniform policy that applies the diversity factor equitably across all projects regardless of size. The developers’ body also emphasized the need for a level playing field and fairness in load assessment practices.

However, K-Electric spokesperson claimed that they follow NEPRA’s Consumer Service Manual, which supposedly prescribes the uniform criteria for the load factor, load assessment, and the connection charge formula for new connection cases, insisting that K-Electric’s application of diversity factors aligns with NEPRA’s prescribed criteria for all power distribution companies nationwide.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025