Power firms face over 65,000 complaints to Ombudsman in 7 months

Electricity distribution firms drew more than 65,000 complaints to Pakistan's Federal Ombudsman in January to July 2026, according to Business Recorder, making power utilities the top category of public complaints. Total complaints climbed to 162,514 from 147,982 a year earlier, yet the watchdog reported a smaller overall backlog.

Most of the grievances against power providers involved billing and billing errors, meter installation delays, defective meters, load-shedding and claims of extortion or bribe demands. Gas firms, with 25,586 complaints, mainly cited fixed charges, meter rents, inaccurate bills and service interruptions, while the Benazir Income Support Programme logged 15,997.

Disposals reached 150,307 cases, against 148,365 in the same period of 2025, which pulled the net caseload down from 47,668 to 40,371. The opening backlog of 10,317 cases had dropped to 8,721 by the end of July, and Lahore carried the heaviest net caseload at 11,861.