K-Electric’s EPIC 2025 event brings a different kind of ‘energy’ to Habib University

The grand finale of K-Electric’s (KE) Energy Progress and Innovation Challenge (EPIC) 2025 was held at Habib University on Wednesday.

A team from National University of Science and Technology (NUST) that presented a project on tamper-proof PMT-based loadshedding and transformer control was declared the winner, walking away with prize money of Rs1.5 million.

EPIC 2025 provided a platform for entrepreneurs, startups, researchers, and academia to develop localised, home-grown solutions that addressed ten ‘challenge statements’, including ‘Real-time fleet tracking and visibility for power utilities’, ‘Smart monitoring of transmission lines: enhancing grid reliability’ and ‘Open innovation: driving transformation in the power sector’.

Launched in March 2025, the initiative attracted over 250 applications from all over the country. After an internal jury assessment comprising functional heads, 10 projects were shortlisted to compete at the grand finale, featuring solutions ranging from AI-driven demand forecasting to IoT-based fleet management and smart theft detection to an esteemed external panel of jury members, according to the company.

The final winners were selected by a panel of jury members, including Inam ur Rehman, Sheikh Imran ul Haque, Shehryar Omar, Shehryar Hydri, Jehan Ara, Maha Qasim, Tara Uzra Dawood, Shaista Ayesha, Nadeem Shaikh, and Syed Azfar Hussain.

The winning NUST team claimed their plug-and-play solution allows them to switch off a PMT remotely, which could greatly reduce the impact of loadshedding to a lower number of customers.

The second winner’s project, presented by a group from Govt College University Faisalabad, was on demand forecasting automation using an artificial neural network, crucial for grid stability and plant efficiency perspectives.

The third winner, from NED University, presented a project called optimized AI model for accurate electricity demand forecast.

The runner-up was awarded Rs1 million while the second runner-up was awarded Rs750,000. But it was the solutions and spirit with which they were presented that was invaluable.

Other presentations dealt with a variety of themes: curbing electricity theft, improving recovery rates, battery energy storage utilization, pre-emptive transformer level failure detection, and photovoltaic impact analysis.

Imagine if a transformer breakdown is detected beforehand. Now imagine loadshedding based on PMTs – technologically not possible at the moment. These are practical questions Pakistan’s power sector is asking and their answers were the core discussion points at EPIC 2025.

Moonis Alvi, CEO at KE, said he was excited about the potential prospect of utilising the solutions. “Law-breakers are sometimes smarter than lawmakers. It is my hope that these ideas can help Pakistan’s power sector and are scalable. I am looking forward to engaging with the finalists. But this is a continuous process. The engagement needs to continue.”

During her address to the audience, Sadia Dada, Chief Distribution and Marcomms Officer, made it clear that any solution would not go through a process of limiting it to KE.

“These solutions will be for the entire power sector in the country.”

Speaking to Business Recorder on the sidelines of the event, Dada said the challenges facing Pakistan’s power sector, especially on the distribution side, are very unique to our geography.

“It is difficult to find solutions off the shelf. So we want those that are localised and homegrown. This ties in with our localisation agenda.

“Because the people developing these solutions understand the context, most of the finalists are from Karachi. Some of them are from Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Lahore. Having this intellectual capital in the country and not utilise is also a wasted opportunity. I am excited at taking these solutions and implementing them in the KE business model.

Talking about loadshedding, Dada said KE cannot provide free electricity to customers who do not pay. “But there are pockets where there are paying customers. If we can bring down the circumference of the impact of loadshed to a PMT level, that would be a win-win, and one of our finalists has worked on this solution.”