Conservation the best short-run solution

The National Power Policy 2013 states the creation of a culture of energy conservation and responsibility as one of its goals. The goal is to be achieved through the broader target of reducing the supply and demand gap from 4,500-5,000MW today to nil by 2017. A demand management strategy is also outlined to achieve the unspecified sub-target of conservation. It focuses on improving technology, setting standards for energy conservation and product labelling, banning imports of non-efficient consumer electronics and providing Pakistani manufacturers a three-year time limit to bring products up to par, with efficiency. Time-of-use tariffs have been proposed to charge different rates for peak and off-peak electricity usage. Also proposed are specific timings and restrictions for shopping, recreational activities, billboard lighting, street lighting, commercial lighting, neon lighting and air conditioning. Price signalling is to be improved by providing more expensive but dedicated electricity to heavy users, utilising captive power plants and generators, and phasing out of the subsidy over a period of three years, except for a lifeline tariff for the abject poor. Green energy building codes are promised to be established and introduced across the country. Solar and alternative power solutions are to be encouraged for end users, street lighting, electronic billboards, neon lighting and shop-front signage, etc.



These measures will be given effect through energy conservation legislation in the areas of technology and product labeling, time-of-use power tariffs and improving the energy efficiency of the existing and new infrastructure. There is also a mention of encouraging energy services companies in the private sector, to audit and improve energy efficiency. All this sounds great. But when it comes to prioritisation “to maximise the impact of the various strategic initiatives”, the short-term measures include energy efficiency to some extent but nothing specific on energy conservation.

The policy seeks to restructure and improve the institutional framework and governance of the energy sector. But it does not even mention the National Energy Conservation Centre (Enercon), the organisation set up in 1986, to do exactly what the power policy envisages in the field of energy conservation and efficiency. Perhaps the ministry of water and power is not even aware that Enercon has been its own attached department, since July 2011. The name does not appear in the list of attached departments given on its website. Continuously underfunded and poorly staffed, Enercon has lacked the professional competence to fully exploit what is globally considered to be the quickest, cheapest and cleanest source of energy. Since 2006, a draft energy conservation policy has been doing the rounds without any action worthy of mention. A Pakistan Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill has also been awaiting consideration since 2011. There is an advantage in building on the past, rather than condemning it for political advantage.

The power policy should have included concrete measures to strengthen Enercon. Effective enforcement of conservation and efficiency measures can add 2,000-3,000MW in a matter of about 18-24 months. It is the cheapest and the fastest route to ensure a major reduction in power cuts. These cost-effective measures should have been the immediate priority. Or is it that the gains had to be weighed against earning the displeasure of traders and businesses, the mainstay of the PML-N support and the major resistors of conservation measures. Shorn of conservation, the new national power policy may turn out to be just another investment plan or an MoU waiting to be implemented. In the short run, conservation is better than the cure.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2013.

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