Feeder
Definition. A feeder is an 11 kV distribution circuit running from a grid station to the transformers that serve a group of streets, and it is the unit at which load shedding, outages and loss performance are all managed.
Also called: 11 kV feeder · Distribution feeder · فیڈر
Where you see it: Encoded in the middle digits of your reference number, and named in DISCO outage and load management notices.
Why outages are collective
Supply reaches you through a grid station, then an 11 kV feeder, then a pole-mounted transformer, then the low-voltage line to your meter. A fault or a switching decision anywhere upstream takes out everyone downstream.
That is why the street opposite can have power when yours does not — different transformer, or a different feeder entirely.
Loss-based load management
Load shedding hours have been allocated by feeder according to measured losses and recovery — the proportion of energy delivered to the feeder that is actually billed and paid for.
A feeder with low losses and high recovery is exempted or lightly shed; one with heavy theft is shed hard. This is why two households in the same city with the same DISCO can have completely different outage schedules, and why the schedule can change when a feeder's performance changes.
Finding your feeder
The sub-divisional office can tell you from your reference number. Some DISCOs publish feeder-wise outage schedules naming them directly.
It is worth knowing, because an outage complaint that names the feeder gets triaged faster than one that describes a street.
Frequently asked questions
Can an individual household be exempted from load shedding?
No. Shedding is switched at feeder level, so exemption is a feeder-level outcome driven by that feeder's loss and recovery performance, not an individual entitlement.
My transformer failed. Is that the same as a feeder fault?
No, and the distinction matters for the complaint. A failed pole-mounted transformer affects a handful of houses and is a local repair; a feeder fault affects hundreds and is handled at the grid station.
Related terms
- DISCO — What a distribution company is responsible for, which of the eleven serves your address, and where its authority ends and NEPRA's begins.
- Peak hours — When the peak window actually falls in Pakistan, why it moves with the season, and which household loads are worth moving out of it.
- Sub-divisional office — What a sub-divisional officer can actually decide, how to make a written complaint that gets a reference number, and when to escalate to the executive engineer.
- Reference number — What the 14-digit number at the top of your bill actually encodes, why the last digit changes on some DISCOs, and what to do when yours has stopped working.
Go further
Back to the full 44-term glossary, or open your own bill with the reference number lookup.