Continuing power crisis

The government’s inability to resolve the continuing electricity crisis has led to some ministers and top bureaucrats reportedly being rebuked by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as he questioned why several power generation plants have been closed or operating below capacity during the blistering summer months. Prime Minister Shehbaz has also demanded a report detailing any other reasons for the power outages, which have also had knock-on effects on agriculture and drinking water supply, apart from commercial and industrial activity. The shortfall is now estimated at almost 7,800 MW, or more than 36% of total output, leaving citizens suffering through up to 16 hours of daily load-shedding and unannounced outages.

Some of these problems are already well known — poor decision-making by the previous government, the falling value of the local currency, fuel supply problems, and the impact of power theft and line losses caused by corruption and mismanagement. But the fact is that we have been living with these problems, with varying degrees of intensity, for most of our lives, yet the situation never looked as bad as it does now. Unfortunately, the proposed solutions for the increased intensity of problems have lacked a corresponding degree of intensity. Long-term plans are welcome, but short-term relief is the need of the hour — 16 hours a day, to be precise.

Take for example a broader and newer problem in the government’s power plans is the focus on setting up new solar plants. While many parts of Pakistan do have the right conditions for this environment-friendly initiative, the high costs of setting up such plants are not something the country can afford at the moment. Those costs also explain why solar only represents 0.5% of total power output at the moment.

And while some detractors remain critical of the plan to import more coal for power plants, the fact is that it is probably the best and cheapest short-term fix – especially when imported from neighbouring Afghanistan, as claimed. Pakistan’s coal consumption is minuscule in global terms, as is the country’s contribution to climate change. As for domestic air quality, we can worry about clean air when we solve the problems caused by lack of electricity – the problems ranging from illnesses and deaths resulting from the extreme heat and suffering due to job losses as industries are forced to close due to unavailability of electricity in the required amount.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2022.

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