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How load shedding is decided
Load shedding is applied feeder by feeder, not street by street. Each feeder is graded on its aggregate technical and commercial losses — essentially how much of the electricity delivered is actually billed and recovered. Low-loss feeders see little or no scheduled shedding; high-loss feeders see the longest hours. This is why two nearby neighbourhoods can have completely different experiences on the same day.
Separate from scheduled shedding are unscheduled outages: tripped feeders, blown transformers, damaged conductors after a storm, and planned maintenance shutdowns. These are not on any schedule and must be reported to be fixed.
Finding your area's schedule
If your outage does not match the published schedule for your feeder, treat it as a fault and report it rather than waiting — unreported faults on a single transformer can persist for days.
- Schedules are published feeder-wise by LESCO and updated seasonally, with longer hours in peak summer.
- Your feeder name appears on your bill or can be confirmed by your subdivision office.
- Scheduled slots are typically applied in one-hour blocks rotating through the day.
- Ramazan and examination periods often carry temporary relaxations.
The complaint escalation path
Keep a paper trail at every stage: complaint numbers, dates, names of officials, photographs of the meter and copies of disputed bills. Complaints backed by evidence are resolved noticeably faster, and NEPRA will ask for that evidence if the case reaches it.
- Call 118. The LESCO helpline is the fastest route for outages, sparking, low voltage and meter faults. Note the complaint number you are given.
- Visit or phone the subdivision. For billing disputes, wrong readings, name changes and meter replacement, the subdivision office handles the case directly.
- Escalate within LESCO. If nothing moves in a reasonable time, escalate to the Executive Engineer of your division quoting the original complaint number and dates.
- Approach NEPRA. Unresolved disputes can be filed with NEPRA's consumer complaint mechanism, which can direct the distribution company to act.
Outages and your bill
Extended unplanned outages do not automatically reduce your bill — you are billed on metered consumption, so an outage simply means fewer units were recorded. What does affect the bill is a faulty or stuck meter, a detection bill raised against you, or an estimated reading applied because the reader could not access the meter. All three are grounds for a formal billing complaint, and all three are easier to contest if you photograph your meter reading each month.
Helpful tips
- Save 118 in your phone and note the complaint number every single time.
- Photograph the meter on the same date each month — timestamped photos settle most reading disputes.
Warnings & common mistakes
- Never attempt repairs on LESCO equipment, including the service cable and meter box. Report faults instead.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my area have more load shedding than the next street?
Shedding is applied per feeder based on recovery and loss performance, and neighbouring areas are often on different feeders.
What is the LESCO complaint number?
The central helpline is 118. Your subdivision office also accepts complaints in person and by phone.
Can I claim compensation for a long outage?
Bills are based on metered units, so there is no automatic rebate. Persistent supply failure can be raised with LESCO and, if unresolved, with NEPRA.
How do I dispute an estimated or detection bill?
File a written complaint at your subdivision with your meter photographs and previous bills, and escalate to the Executive Engineer if it is not corrected in the next billing cycle.
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