Pakistan's Load Shedding: The worsening crisis

EDITORIAL: Daily Times

There seems to be no respite from the frequent power outages that have made life miserable for citizens. The state of affairs today is a far cry from the lofty claims made by the PML-N when it was on the election trail just a couple of months ago. The then election hopefuls promised to end load shedding immediately and to do away with the ‘bad’ policies of previous regimes. Nawaz Sharif’s party promised a drastic cut in the hours of load shedding and immediate relief measures that would be taken up without any dithering about but all that seems to have changed. Even before the moment the PML-N stepped into the ruling shoes, Nawaz Sharif was quick to caution the public over its expectations by telling them not to expect an end to load shedding overnight. One would have liked to tell the premier then and there that no one expected a be all and end all cure for the energy woes plaguing the country but the masses did expect plans to tackle the crisis on a war footing the moment the PML-N took over. A high profile meeting was indeed held in the initial days of the PML-N government’s ascent to power, chalking out a new ‘national energy policy’, which was promised to be made public but never was. After that first spasm of effort on the electricity crisis one is still waiting for the government to handle the most pressing issue being faced by the country and its people. The power outages have gained momentum yet again and are long and unscheduled. Citizens are unable to sleep, study, work and fast properly during the hottest month of the year. They were promised no load shedding before the holy month was due to commence but now Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif has told the masses that there are “technical” reasons for the sehri-iftaar outages. When will this placating the public end? Whilst the government has released some Rs 300 billion to help retire circular debt, it fails to realise that until the root cause of this debt is addressed, the problem will just keep on being reproduced. The fault lies wit the priorities set by governments over a period of time: the main culprit of this circular debt is the government itself, followed by the military. These two institutions and their affiliated branches have failed to pay their electricity bills for many years leaving private consumers to bear the brunt of increasing tariffs. Of late, the office of the Federal Adjustor (FA) has been considered to be brought into action to deduct at source any money owed by the provinces at the time of funds transfer to the provinces under the NFC Award. This may prove one way to make sure the provincial governments that do not pay their bills no longer get away it. The PML-N is no longer an opposition party and can no longer flout claims that Punjab is being targeted by the Centre when it comes to massive outages; it is now in the federal government and must make sure that all pay their electricity bills. Secondly, subsidies must be minimised. So far, the subsidy is around five rupees per unit and this is costing the government in terms of efficient electricity generation. The lifeline slab, which is specifically the amount of electricity only barely afforded by the poor, should not be touched but the other slabs can face an incremental increase in tariffs as their consumers can afford to pay for it. Last but not least comes less dependency on thermal power and more on hydel and other, alternative forms of fuel. Renewable energy must be brought to places where the national grid just cannot be extended to isolated areas that are still without electricity. The Thar coal reserves are reported to be made of a lignite form of coal, which is too combustible to transport; the government must make plans to plant powerhouses in the mining area instead of transporting the coal. As can be seen, there is one big problem that has many solutions. However, they can only be implemented if the governing body has the determination and grit to move past rhetoric and actually do something about the matter.