The country loses Rs600 billion annually to electricity theft; the figure, even by conservative estimates, is a stark reminder of the system and governance failures that have compromised our institutional capability to reform the energy sector.
Federal Energy Minister Awais Leghari’s comments on different occasions also make another thing clear: there is sufficient power supply available, but additional demand is coming from areas entrenched in non-payment and power theft. It’s not Pakistan’s energy capacity, but the people’s ability and willingness to pay. Supplying energy to areas where power theft is rampant would inflict additional losses on the national exchequer. These are not technical or operational issues—they are also a massive bone of contention for honest, paying consumers and institutional reform efforts.
K-Electric’s data-driven, economic loss-based load shedding is not arbitrary—it is fundamental to fairness to regularly paying customers.
Recently in areas like Malir Colony, Jinnah Square and Khokrapar—where losses are at least 90%, if not more, and cumulative dues stand at Rs 1.087 billion—as per information from the power utility, a mob protest was held by a political party.
Only a couple of kilometers away in Model Colony and adjacent areas like Shah Faisal Colony and Indus Mehran, residents pay their bills and face no loadshedding. Are these citizens to be punished for compliance, while defaulters get political sympathy and power?
Protests and political sloganeering cannot overwrite the fact that non-payment is also parallel to theft of power and is now being adopted by masses as a choice to get free electricity.
The optics of protests in economic hub Karachi, led by organized factions, only serve to amplify investor unease. This isn’t just a civic management issue, it’s an investment risk. If law-abiding areas are destabilized for political mileage, what credibility does Pakistan hold in global capital markets?
The Federal Government and Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) have done heavy lifting: unlocking capital, negotiating tariff rebasing, and aligning government priorities with investor confidence. All of this is jeopardized if the narrative shifts toward subsidizing theft and undermining compliance. What are lawmakers in Provincial Assembly of Sindh pushing for when they want uninterrupted power supply also threatening arrests of officials of the sole power supplier of the city.
There is no room—nor justification—for free electricity. Any deviation from this principle is a direct threat to fiscal reform, investor sentiment, and the integrity of Pakistan’s power sector roadmap.
The message to all stakeholders must be clear: compliance is rewarded, theft is penalized. Anything less is economic self-sabotage.
The article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Business Recorder or its owners
The writer is an economist with nearly 20 years of experience, and has an interest in Pakistan’s stock market, energy and auto sectors
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