The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has fined K-Electric PKR 25 million for its operational failure during the major power breakdown that occurred across Pakistan in January 2023.
NEPRA claimed that the company was not fulfilling its roles in operations and the reasons provided were not sufficient to warrant the extensive failure. The authority indicated that it was wrong to blame the National grid alone as the weaknesses of the K-Electric systems were the other economic factors that led to the failure.
The ruling of NEPRA pointed out that K-Electric was technically right when it was referring to low system inertia but it was not adequate. The company clarification on its ability to start black was not effective. Even with black start exercise, K-Electric failed to control the crisis on hand in real-time and recurring incidents of tripping indicated that safety precautions were not working.
The authority noted that technical issues in K-Electric’s black start plant still exist, proving that promised system upgrades were not completed. Declaring the company’s response unsatisfactory, NEPRA ordered K-Electric to deposit the fine within 15 days.
NEPRA had provided K-Electric with an opportunity for a hearing. The first meeting was planned to be held on November 14, 2024, but at the request of K-Electric, it was postponed and, finally, conducted on March 20, 2025, in the head office of NEPRA.
On January 23, 2023, Pakistan experienced a nationwide power breakdown affecting Karachi, Sindh, southern Punjab, and parts of Islamabad. Airports and large industrial units were also hit by the outage. The first indications were that there was a loss of frequency due to a disconnection between transmission lines and power plants, which resulted in cascading tripping of the national grid.
