Check Your Planned Power Cut Limit in Pakistan: 16 Cuts and 80 Hours a Year

Short answer: NEPRA's 2026 rules say a household should not face more than 16 planned power cuts a year. In a city the total should stay within 80 hours, and in a village within 96 hours. Your electricity company must also send you a notice at least 48 hours before each cut.

The lights go off at 9 am, the neighbour says "maintenance", and nobody told you. Most of us have lived that morning. The rules now put numbers on it.

We downloaded and read the Performance Standards (Distribution) Regulations 2026 from nepra.org.pk on 14 October 2026. They were notified as SRO 1430(I)/2026 on 25 August 2026. We read the limits from a table in a scanned file, so check the figures against the PDF before you quote them to an officer.

Households get 16 planned cuts and 80 hours in cities

For a normal home on 400/230 volt supply, the regulations cap planned interruptions at 16 a year, urban and rural alike. They cap the total time at 80 hours a year in urban areas and 96 hours in rural areas. These are limits for each consumer, not an average.

A planned cut is one the company decides in advance, usually for line repair or tree cutting. A fault is different. Faults fall under a separate limit, and NEPRA's yearly limit of 13 power cuts already covers that side.

You must get 48 hours of notice by message

Before a planned cut, the company must tell every affected consumer at least 48 hours ahead. It must use a text message, email or another electronic way. It must also publish the area-wise schedule of planned outages on its consumer app.

So a verbal "we will cut power tomorrow" through a lineman is not what the rule describes. Defence establishments are excluded from this notice rule, because their planned cuts need mutual agreement.

If you have never received a message, the likely cause is an old mobile number on your account. The same regulations list an option in the company app to update your mobile and email, and our walkthrough on how to check a planned power shutdown for LESCO and IESCO shows where those schedules appear today.

Cuts should fall between early morning and evening

The regulations ask the company to make reasonable efforts so a planned cut does not start before 6 am and ends by 5 pm in winter. Winter runs from 16 October to 15 April. In summer the window is 5 am to 6 pm.

The winter window starts in two days, on 16 October 2026. The wording is "reasonable efforts", so it is a target and not a guarantee. Still, a cut that starts at 10 pm with no notice is worth a written complaint.

Keep your own log and complain in order

Write down the date, start time, end time and whether you got a message. Complain to your company first, then to NEPRA if nothing changes. A dated log turns a feeling into evidence and makes the officer's job easier.

1. Note every planned cut for a few weeks: date, start, end, and whether a message came.
2. Check the planned outage schedule in your company app or website.
3. Register a complaint with your company's complaint centre and keep the complaint number.
4. If the company does not fix it, take it to NEPRA. The regulations say unresolved complaints go to the Authority under its 2015 complaint rules.

For the full route, read how to complain to NEPRA about your electricity company. If the cuts are not planned at all, see whether load shedding is legal under NEPRA rules.

Money back does not start yet

The regulations say a company that misses a standard owes compensation, but that clause starts two years after the rules took effect. The limits above apply now, and NEPRA can fine a company. Do not expect a credit on your bill yet.

That matches what we found when we read the new NEPRA deadlines for every electricity company. A company can also ask for relief after events like floods or storms, so a cut during such an event may not count against it.

Common questions

How many planned power cuts can I get in a year?

A household on 400/230 volt supply should get no more than 16 planned cuts a year, according to the 2026 NEPRA regulations. The same cap applies in cities and villages.

How long can planned cuts last in total?

The yearly total should stay within 80 hours in urban areas and 96 hours in rural areas. These figures come from a scanned table, so confirm them in the PDF.

How much notice must the company give?

At least 48 hours, sent by text message, email or another electronic means. The area-wise schedule must also be on the company's consumer app.

Can I claim compensation for extra planned cuts?

Not yet. The compensation clause starts two years after the regulations took effect. NEPRA can still fine the company now.

Where do I complain if the company ignores me?

Take it to NEPRA after you have a complaint number from your company. The regulations send unresolved complaints to the Authority.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked on 14 October 2026, Pakistan time. We read NEPRA's Performance Standards (Distribution) Regulations 2026. We did not test whether any company is sending the 48 hour messages today, and we could not confirm that every company's app already shows the outage schedule.