KARACHI: Amid rising temperatures and long power outages in the city, Jamaati-Islami (JI) on Thursday wrote a strong letter to the head of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), accusing the body of maintaining `double standards` and having an `anti-Karachi bias` in its recent decisions on K-Electric`s tariffs and recovery policies.In his letter, the JI Karachi chief Monem Zafar slammed the Nepra`s approval allowing KE to transfer recovery losses, ie, losses due to unpaid bills by defaulters, onto law-abiding consumers.

He called the decision not only unjust, but also discriminatory, stating that no such precedent exists for distribution companies in other cities of the country.

He emphasised that Karachi`s consumers, who regularly pay their electricity bills, are being punished for KE`s inefficiency, mismanagement and failure to ensure effective recovery from defaulters.

`Why is K-Electric being favoured? Is Nepra`s claim of a uniform national tariff merely a hollow slogan?` the JI leader questioned in the letter.

According to the letter, the Nepra`s decision to set Karachi`s base electricitytariff at Rs40 per unit, compared to the national average of Rs35, is a blatant example of unfair treatment. He warned that this move would burden Karachi`s residents with billions of rupees in additional yearly costs, who are already enduring the country`s highest electricity prices and chronic load-shedding.

The letter also highlighted Nepra`s approval of KE`s multi-year tariff framework, which would allow the utility to collect Rs97bn from Karachi`s citizens in the fiscal year 2024-25 alone. This financial burden, Mr Zafar claimed, is just the beginning, with more to follow until 2030. He further raised alarm over an additional Rs76bn that Nepra is reportedly preparing to approve in favour of KE under the guise of ` the right of claim,` again to be recovered from paying consumers.

`These developments come at a timewhen Karachi is facing one of the worst electricity crises in years. Frequent power outages, especially during the sweltering heat and looming heatwaves, are pushing residents to the brink while both Nepra and the federal government maintain a criminal silence,` said the JI leader.

He demanded that Nepra immediately reverse its decision to shift recovery losses onto consumers, implement a uniform base tariff across the country and take disciplinary action against KE for its ongoing failure to provide uninterrupted power supply. Mr Zafar also called for the cancellation of KE`s license and recommended that the federal government supply cheaper electricity to Karachi through the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC). In a major policy departure, the Nepra had a couple of days ago approved KE`s request to incorporate unrecovered bills into its consumer tariff starting with a recovery shortfall of 6.75 per cent in 2023-24, gradually declining to 3.5pc by 2029-30. The Nepra set KE`s base tariff at Rs40 per unit for the fiscal year 2023-24, which is almost 40pc higher than even the national average tariff of about Rs28 per unit in 2025-26 for the 10 public sector power distribution companies (Discos).

MQM-P demands legal action against KE Though the government expressed `serious concerns` over a series of recent determinations by Nepra favouring KE and announced its decision to challenge them for being against the interests of the government, consumers and taxpayers, its own ally doesn`t sound convinced with the its `hollow announcement.

Echoing similar sentiments, members of the Sindh Assembly from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan(MQM-P) expressed outrage over the deteriorating power situation in Karachi.

In a statement release from the party`s Bahadurabad headquarters, MQM-P legislators accused the KE of holding the city hostage and systematically violating citizens` basic rights.

They pointed out that despite having all necessary resources and receiving massive payments from consumers, KE has failed to ensure even the minimum supply of electricity. `Power outages exceeding sixteen hours a day in the country`s economic hub are simply inexplicable,` the statement read. The lawmakers accused the KE of deliberately failing to meet its contractual obligations.

Even after more than two decades, K-Electric has not added a single megawatt to the national grid under the terms of its agreement, they said, adding that the city`s crumbling power infrastructure is a testament to the utility`s persistent failure.

The MQM-P called upon Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to intervene personally, urging him to rescue the people of Karachi from what they termed a `power mafia`.