Business

Daylight saving, 2-day weekend back on the table

Govt to enhance gas supply to power plants to reduce cost of power generation.

Zafar Bhutta May 11, 2011

ISLAMABAD:

The government has decided to table an energy saving plan comprising two holidays a week, closure of shops at 8 pm, advancing clocks by one hour and turning off street lights at night at an energy summit scheduled for May 25 and 26.

Gas distribution between provinces will also be discussed at the summit that will be chaired by Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and attended by all chief ministers to develop a consensus on the proposals.

The government is also working on a plan to enhance gas supply to power plants with an aim to reduce the cost of power generation, sources said, adding this would imply that the existing gas load-shedding plan for CNG stations will stay in place for now. Earlier, the government had announced a reduction in gas load-shedding for CNG stations after June.

The cost of electricity produced by gas is 50 to 60 per cent less than that produced using furnace oil, according to sources in the ministry of water and power. While a unit of electricity produced using natural gas costs between Rs3 and Rs5, a corresponding unit produced using furnace oil costs between Rs13 and 18. The government is also considering issuing a warning to inefficient power plants to either improve their generation capacity or face closure, sources said, adding that reduction in the subsidies to the power sector will also be discussed.

The energy saving plan implemented last year resulted in a fall in electricity demand by 1000 to 1300 MW per day. The advancement of clock by one hour added another 250 MW to the fall in demand.

Punjab is expected to oppose the proposal of two weekly holidays on grounds that it would negatively impact national productivity, sources told The Express Tribune.

They added that Punjab is also expected to take up the issue of gas distribution formula among provinces. Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had obtained stay orders from their respective high courts against gas load shedding.

The summit will also discuss the allocation of all gas from new discoveries, including the Kunar-Pasakhi Deep gas field, to the power sector. The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet has already agreed to this, sources said, adding that “the decision has not been implemented yet due to the opposition of the petroleum ministry.”

The ministry fears that such a move would lead the gas utilities – Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited – to default on their commitments to other sectors, including cement and fertilisers, which had inked gas sale agreements with them, sources added.

The government recently raised the power tariff for May by 2 per cent while another 2 per cent hike will take place in June, to reduce the subsidies paid to the power sector. The raise was in addition to Re1 per unit charge allowed by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority on account of fuel surcharge adjustment for May.

The government is required to increase the tariff by another 16 per cent to recover full cost of power generation and end the Rs144 billion it currently pays to the sector in subsidies.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (42)

Hassan | 12 years ago | Reply Two weekly holidays is a decent idea in the wake of severe energy crisis. If we don't want two weekly off days than we should stop yelling about load shedding and lets all face this pathetic energy crisis without criticizing government. In Karachi majority of the shops open after 1'O clock and usage of AC is enormous. Govt. employees get chilled in air conditioned rooms and do nothing. It is better to appreciate this idea of two holidays. It will bring the load shedding time period bit lesser along with making us to learn the norms of doing business.

waqas | 12 years ago | Reply 2 day weekend is a brilliant idea... God knows y people oppose it??? Everywhere in the world is a 2 day weekend.. Hope it gets approved soon and that too should be implemented in all organizations.. No one should be exempt!!

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dude | 12 years ago | Reply this is ridiculous concept!

Hikayat shah | 12 years ago | Reply Already majority of Pakistani population is without work and the Average of Holiday in the world Pakistan is No 1 now the Government wants 2 more days to rest. what a sham, and daylight experiment in the past has no successful record. do not do any thing and look busy wah Pakistanis. .

Saad | 12 years ago | Reply @Raj: could be more positively as well, ha? India can adopt as well.

Faris | 12 years ago | Reply Majority of countries in the world observe two day weekend and are still successful. It's only in the minds of FPCCI, KCCI and PML-N that Saturday off will lead you to dark ages. Grow up, 5 day work-week is perfectly productive and that includes banks as well, before everyone starts complaining about how difficult it is to have banks off on Sat - let me say ppl learn to manage ur lives better. Shop-keepers would do everyone including themselves a favor if they open their shops at 9 (instead of opening shops after 1 pm daily and after 3 on fridays). One-hour clock advancement is counter-productive though, ppl just take time in getting used to it and by that time its over. Plus rozas become more hectic with the heat and one hour clock advancement.

dr saifi | 12 years ago | Reply Oh my ppp lords! Why dont you forward a whole year? It wil save you enormous energy as wel we wil witness your early tenure completion?

BKD | 12 years ago | Reply @Naveed Ahmed: Not doing it for 64 years has not had much of a positive impact on the economy as well.

Malik | 12 years ago | Reply What's so confusing in it..?? All those public offices which are not providing any emergency services or engaged in any production line should be closed 2 days a week permanently.Its a common practice in government offices that no work is observed on Saturday but only wastage of resources. Weekly 02 holidays will ultimately increase the efficiency of people as they will get sufficient time to resolve their family and social matters. Closure of shops, street lights and reversing of clocks doesn't make sense.

Muhammad Arshad | 12 years ago | Reply Whichever the working hours there should be punctuality in observance. If there is no punctuality and observance then useless to talk about. This country since its birth could not find well qualified planners instead "Sifarshi tatoos" run the affairs of the country, hence, the results in front of the public and only general public has to suffer for contributing to this country's economy with their hardwork and laborious jobs and not "the thieves/cheaters" who are living their luxury lives with the debt they took in the name of our innocent and laborious people and now their sufferings are increasing day by day.

Ik | 12 years ago | Reply Will the terrorists get the holiday too? Govt must enforce the law on them too! ;)

Rizwan Anwar | 12 years ago | Reply Instead of advancing the clock by one hour why not advance the month this way we can export the surplus electricity and earn valuabe foreign exchange.

Saad Durrani | 12 years ago | Reply Two days off is beneficial for employees as it gives them to refresh themselves. All the developed countries in the world have it. Furthermore, two off-days a week is beneficial for other purposes as well. It gives more people jobs if you are in retail business. Furthermore, rather than tweaking clocks like crazy, just start the official day at 8 and end it at 4.

Mohammad Ali | 12 years ago | Reply Bankers need two days off! Hope the government decides to give two days off as soon as possible.

Mohammad Ali | 12 years ago | Reply I think the government should go for two weekly days off on a permanent basis,instead of flip flopping. This will make people more effecient for 5 days of work instead of being useless and tired all week. Shops should be allowed to remain open till atleast 10pm. I think this will be good for the economy and the people.

Hmmm | 12 years ago | Reply This ain't the best idea. http://www.brecorder.com/home/br-research/industries/oil-gas-a-power/11646-two-holidays-wont-fix-it.html

Danish | 12 years ago | Reply This giovt hasw already wasted 3 and a half years of the country and taken the economy 12 years back, so what if they move the clocks back by an hiur or so?

Billoo Bhaya | 12 years ago | Reply @zoya: Imagine all the things we can do in the dark that we can't do when the lights are on??

Billoo Bhaya | 12 years ago | Reply @Raj: Bloody right. Just half an hour can cause Indian's to go haywire. What if we were to change by 1 1/2 hour, that would really make you nuts as we will be always ahead of you!!! We would be finished doing what we are doing before you even start. Wooh!!

Danish Qadimi | 12 years ago | Reply Has anyone calculated what is the cost savings for DST. I understand its more historical than evidence based. At least in the US, there is some analysis saying that its not as cost effective as previously thought, and perhaps even costlier. Dont understand the logic for making the shops close earlier. What is the cost of having people leaving work early to shop. Completely agree with closing the government offices for 2 days. Doubt if there is any more productivity in having them open for an extra day. Again, is there any economic analysis of either situation. regards

Muhammad Imran | 12 years ago | Reply @Mariam: I foresee going to office in the darkness as the summer time if the summer time lasts six months :-(

Chilli | 12 years ago | Reply Friday should be called holiday again. In gulf countries this is observed and they are prosperous than any other country. I think we should restore Friday as the same was done by Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto.

Danish | 12 years ago | Reply For God's sake, even developed nations work 5 days a week. Also, since we are severely energy deficient, it will be totally irrational to waste energy in the 6th day while adding no value. And also I agree with Mariam, the government is still spending public money on conferences. Height of indecisiveness.

MAD | 12 years ago | Reply This is becoming a bit of a joke now. both issues are discussed every month and the decision is deferred due to political considerations. Whjats so political about day light saving and a two day weekend. It shouldnt even be an issue.

Naveed Ahmed | 12 years ago | Reply Two-day weekend and closure of shops at 8pm will have disastrous effects on the economy.

f | 12 years ago | Reply Advancing clocks by one hour is more disruptive then productive. If the benefit was so great why would countries like Australia not do it or India for that matter or even China?? Hope sense prevails and the government doesnt do this but implements other measures to conserve energy like reduce the wasteful expenditure on fuel for escorts, cut back on energy consumption in Government buildings, PM house, presidency, etc.

omer | 12 years ago | Reply decisions like loadsheding of gas, electricity and two holidays alone could be a best judge of the abilities of our government and technical people involved. in last three years these are the ONLY measures they have been able to come up with ? no wonder our country today is in a great mess.

Mariam | 12 years ago | Reply It's already the middle of May...the conference is planned for the end of May..what is the Government trying to achieve? They better get things sorted out before the summer is over!!

Imran | 12 years ago | Reply I strongly recommend that Advance one hour formula but as conern of two holidays and shop closed at night 8.00Pm not understandable. Our economy is still in decreasing trend and badly effected day by day. we have to adopt such measure that should be economically and financially help all the classes. The loadsheding schedule should be implemented to all VIPS houses and their working place rahter than create all burden to common man.

RizwanTKhan | 12 years ago | Reply Turning off the street lights at night? Hahahahhaha. That is the time to keep the street lights on. How about turning the lights off during the day as in khi that is the usual practice. Also I think govt got kickbacks from robbers just to make their job easy at night.

Imran | 12 years ago | Reply What made you change your decision last time around? How it would be different this time?

True Pakistani Patriot | 12 years ago | Reply Energy Crises will be discussed in Centrally air conditioned conference room, with a single minute of load shedding and all of the so call stake holders will fly/drive in Air conditioned transportation. What will they do ????? will add misery to the people of Pakistan, street crime will increase whatever the street lights working will go off....to sustain IPP's and RPP's (mostly multinationals) will take share of the our local CNG, and then will we pay again further TAX to service the INTl'e Finance institutions.....we (PUBLIC) will pay more 2% in JUNE, because we have agreed to pay 2% in MAY....and it will go on.... YOU ROB US BLIND....WE WILL KEEP QUITE……AND YOU PLEASE KEEP ON……

aamer | 12 years ago | Reply It is excellent step to be taken for management of energy crises. Two holidays relaxed the staff and they work more effectively and efficiently. The two days holiday will remain whole year, instead of 5 months. some organization have long times, especially banks, which is also against the intenrational labour law, so two holidays will legalize this wrong practice.

Cheeko Beeko | 12 years ago | Reply The government should not only take the issue of a 2-day weekend on the table but should enforce it by all means. No nonsense of FPCCI and KCCI should be tolerated as the businessmen does not want to pay overtime to the labourers and therefore object every time whenever such a move is made by the government. When Pakistan does not have enough electricity to provide to its citizens, a 2-days weekend during the summer should commence automatically and with fail from the 1st day of April every year. Instead of closing the shops at 8pm, government should ask all the shopkeepers to close their shops at the sunset. On Saturdays and Sundays, no shop should be open where electricity is consumed or run on the generators. We should not only save electricity but at the same time should also save petrol and diesel as the government pay a huge amount on importing petrol and diesel. Any one who violates the law, no matter how influential he may be, should be put behind the bars. Hospitals and drug stores and such office which comes under essential services should remain open to provide emergency services. Enough is enough. Pakistan should provide 24 hours electricity to residential areas after announcing a 2-day weekend.

zoya | 12 years ago | Reply are they crazy ???? dont put the street lights off at night as to say there are no less accidents during the day have them off by 2 am not before that plz. all banks & offices should be closed on saturdays so that common man can also benefit . plzzzzzzzzz think

Billoo Bhaya | 12 years ago | Reply Instead of 2 days-off, why don't they make it 5 days-off, that way more energy will be saved. The summit should also discuss curtailing free power supply to KESC, WAPDA employees and Military officers and Bureaucrats. They should all pay for it like normal people.

Jamshed | 12 years ago | Reply Pakistanis are so confused about this day light time saving, I remember people setting up meetings times like "Is this time with respect to new time or old time"?

ilmiweb.com | 12 years ago | Reply This is not the solution for electricity crisis, Govt. have to consider the alternative methods. A mistake can not be corrected by another mistake.

S Khan | 12 years ago | Reply It's time to work 7 day/week and not cut back working days.

Raj | 12 years ago | Reply Day Light Savings Time is being considered to be eliminated in the West as it causes lack of rest for pilots and professional sports players when the day is shortened in April. In Pakistan's case, it makes no sense. Six months in a year Pakistan Standard Time will be thirty minutes ahead of Indian Standard Time and for six months thirty minutes behind Indian Standard Time. India is in the East of Pakistan. Totally senseless move.

azb1 | 12 years ago | Reply People are starving due to lack of work and failing businesses and our brilliant governments solution is to give us a 2 day holiday, close shops at 8, and switch of all the street lamps. Pathetic. Instead of working in order to eradicate this problem for our future generations, they are taking us back to medieval times! This is ridiculous. The Govt and Army should stop playing bigger games than it can handle in Foreign Policy and concentrate on providing us with basic BASIC necessities like electricity and gas. Shame on these Baghairats!

Moise | 12 years ago | Reply If the government can move back two hours instead of one they can save so much that they can export electricity.

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