A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court against the ongoing unannounced load shedding across the country. The miscellaneous application, submitted by the Judicial Activism Panel, states that citizens are facing outages despite paying high electricity bills and are not being provided equal power supply.
It further said that business activities are being adversely affected due to frequent outages. The petitioner has requested the court to ensure uninterrupted and non-discriminatory electricity supply and to take steps for ending load shedding, according to a report in The Express Tribune.
According to officials, the total electricity demand across the country stands at 22,000MW but the generation has remained at less than 15,400MW. The energy mix includes 1,500MW from hydropower, 9,250MW from thermal sources, 1,200MW from wind, 2,850MW from nuclear, 400MW from solar and 200MW from bagasse.
“Hydropower production dropped by 1,991MW during the night, contributing to a total shortfall of around 4,500MW at peak demand,” a government spokesman said. The spokesperson said the reduction in hydropower generation was due to decreased water releases from the country’s dams.
The total installed hydropower generation capacity of Pakistan is calculated to be around 12,000MW. But a good number of hydropower stations are in a constant state of repair and maintenance. Due to unseasonal rains and precipitation in higher reaches, most dams are far fuller compared to last year. In April 2025, Tarbela had reported over 40 per cent deficiency, according to Indus River System Authority (ISRA) sources. However, this year the shortfalls have been reported to the extent of only 15 per cent for the comparable period.
Peshawar worst hit region
Perhaps the situation is the worst in Peshawar area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where load shedding up to 20 hours daily has been reported. With the onset of heat due to rising temperatures during days and nights, most urban areas are facing 15 to 18 hours of outages and some areas have experienced up to 20 hours without electricity.
Citizens say that despite paying heavy electricity bills, they are not receiving adequate power supply, while prolonged outages have also led to a worsening water crisis in several cities including Lahore. Sources from the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) said the crisis is driven by shortages of RLNG, hydropower and oil. They added that the absence of a proper load shedding schedule is causing unannounced outages.
Instead of scheduled two-hour outages, as announced officially, load shedding of up to six hours at a time is being carried out and the situation is likely to persist for several more days. Pakistan gets almost 90 per cent of its energy requirements, including petroleum products and gas, from the West Asian nations. Due to the Strait of Hormuz becoming a no go area for commercial shipping, all supplies to Pakistan have been disrupted.
Much before the arrival of summers, the situation has worsened across all power distribution companies (DISCOs). The average power shortfall is in excess of 3,500 MWs, leading to heavy unannounced load shedding in whole of Punjab, including the capital Lahore.
In urban areas, electricity outages lasting six to eight hours daily have become routine, while rural areas are facing 12 to 14 hours of load shedding. Frequent power cuts throughout the day have disrupted routine life and business activities. On the other hand, prolonged outages at night have deprived citizens of sleep.
Lahore faces 1,000MW shortfall
In Lahore alone, the shortfall has exceeded 1,000 megawatts, with severe load shedding. Officially, the load shedding is only for two hours but in practice, electricity is being suspended for one hour after every hour. In the rural areas, outages have exceeded eight hours disrupting threshing of wheat with farmers fearing severe losses in the coming days.
Officials explained that electricity demand decreases during the day due to solar usage, but load shedding intensifies in the evening. Complaints of low voltage and damage to electrical appliances is common and widespread. Multan and Jhang are also facing prolonged and unannounced load shedding. In Multan, outages last 8 to 10 hours in urban areas and up to 12 hours in rural regions. An additional two hours of power cuts is imposed on high-loss feeders, pushing total outages to 14 hours.
The shortfall in Multan exceeds 500 megawatts a the Multan Electric Power Company requires 2,000 MW to serve its 11 million consumers. In Jhang, unannounced outages have exceeded 12 hours, with repeated long-duration cuts disrupting both domestic and commercial users.
