Muhammad Ali, 26, lives with his parents and two sisters in a three-bedroom flat in a three-storey apartment block near Shaheed-i-Millat Road in Karachi. At night, they share a single air-conditioned (AC) room.

“I need my privacy and to study for my exams in peace, not with my father scrolling through reels — with the volume on high — on his phone while awake and snoring loudly when he dozes off,” says Ali, a disgruntled dental resident.

“Even the AC is a source of negotiation — the cool air from the vent barely reaches the corner where I sleep,” he continues. “If I turn up the fan speed or change its direction, my mother and sisters complain.”

With a rapidly growing population — and a much-disputed census estimate of 20 million — Karachi is bursting at its seams. As the city struggles to accommodate its growing population, its skyline — dotted with highrises and multi-storey buildings — reflects a relentless push vertically.

Pakistan is increasingly touted as a country that has leapfrogged into solar energy, changing how households use electricity. But for millions living in Karachi’s highrise apartments, going solar is not so simple — splitting the city into those who can go off the grid and those stuck paying for what’s left of it

Pakistan is increasingly touted as a country that has leapfrogged into solar energy, changing how households use electricity. But for millions living in Karachi’s highrise apartments, going solar is not so simple — splitting the city into those who can go off the grid and those stuck paying for what’s left of it

The 2023 Population and Housing Census by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics counted 114,148 multi-storey structures nationwide, of which 64.38 percent were residential and 28.96 percent were used for both residential and economic purposes. Sindh accounted for nearly two-thirds — 64.84 percent — of the country’s multi-storey residential structures, with a majority probably in Karachi.

This congested city’s 170th ranking out of 173 cities in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2026 Global Liveability Index reflects the pressures of urban life. There simply aren’t enough basic amenities for its residents, including water, natural gas and electricity, with prolonged power outages making nights routinely sleepless. Ali’s family is among those living in one of Karachi’s rented apartments and grappling with these challenges daily.

“The high electricity bill, power outages at any time of the day and, most importantly, this lack of privacy is affecting my life,” Ali tells Eos. He is desperate for his household to transition to solar power. “But I don’t earn enough to have a say in decisions,” he adds.

Nevertheless, that has not stopped him from checking whether the rooftop has enough space and getting quotations from solar installation companies to determine the initial investment and how long it would take to recoup it.

The number of Karachi residents living in highrises is unclear. Karachi-based think tank The Knowledge Forum (TKF), which works with civil society on just energy transition — moving from fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas to cleaner energy in a way that is fair to everyone affected — estimates that 64 percent of the city’s population lives in high-density neighbourhoods, which include informal neighbourhoods. Apartment blocks and other multi-storey buildings, meanwhile, are found not only in high- and medium-density areas but are increasingly becoming a feature of informal settlements as well.

The estimate is based on declarations made by the city’s power utility, K-Electric, in its 2024 tariff determination, which was notified by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra). “The approximate 64 percent of the population also constitutes the high-loss areas [where electricity theft is rampant],” says Basil Andrews, lead researcher on just energy transition at TKF.

Rabia Babar, a data analyst at the Islamabad-based energy transition think tank Renewables First, says the current generation tariff or the national average purchase price determined by........

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