Let there be light!

Any observer of the power sector in Pakistan will have long ago lost count of the number of times that promises to end power cuts have been made and then broken. Some of these promises have been more unlikely than others and all of them must be treated with a large pinch of salt. So it is with a gelid eye that we peruse the latest claim made by the government on Sunday 3^rd December that it had achieved ‘zero load-shedding’ in some parts of the country. Having failed to make good on the promise to end all power outages everywhere by November 2017 a partial success is better than no success.

The Minister for Power, Sardar Leghari, is the man currently clutching the poisoned chalice and he has announced that more than 5,000 feeders in the country have now been converted to ‘zero load-shedding’ — effective immediately. This happy event will not be experienced in those areas where there is 10 per cent or more line losses, which in all probability is going to be in the poorest areas where theft of electricity is commonplace. Under the new management system, up to 15 million consumers are the beneficiaries and if you pay your bills in a timely manner chances are the lights are going to stay on.

This government suffers from Goldfish Syndrome. Goldfish have tiny short-term memories and so can swim in circles forever, forgetting that they had been in the same spot 20 seconds before. Thus with electricity. It is not long ago that smog brought Lahore to a grinding halt, crashed the aged infrastructure wherever it descended and left millions in the dark for hours, sometimes days. The smog season has passed and the country is passing through cool and settled weather meaning that electricity consumption is anyway low, there is minimal pressure on the system and if there was a time to declare a partial success on the electricity front now is that time. Whether the success will extend into the new year and the season of smog and fogs is very much an open question.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2017.

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