Pakistan’s deepening energy crisis shows little signs of abating, with recent power breakdowns and loadshedding causing riots in several parts of the country.
The government has failed to deliver on its promises of cut-down on loadshedding during Ramazan, especially during Sehr, Iftar and Taraweeh hours and angry mobs have taken to the streets in protest.
On Monday, the Lahore High Court chief justice directed the government to ensure equal load-shedding across the country after it was reported that the province of Punjab was on the receiving end of the worst power cut-downs while in other provinces “power theft was at large scale and the bill recovery at low even then Punjab was being victimised in the load management plan.”
While Pakistan has begun exploring alternative energy options, a large-scale implementation of such plans is yet to materialise.
With the current government nearing the end of its five-year reign in power, the energy crisis remains amongst its top failures.
How will the country cope with this ever-worsening issue of energy crisis?
Will Pakistan be able to make use of alternate energy sources to overcome the power shortfalls?
Will the government be able to overcome this problem before the end of its tenure?
Dawn.com invites its readers to share their views and suggestions…
The energy crisis in Pakistan demands the country must carefully tread the path of neutrality between Syria and Iran on one side and the Saudi Arabia and the Arab States on the other.
Chineese made cheap gas generators sold in Karachi have now completely eliminated domestic electricity issues in Karachi.Just use unlimited gas supply or powerful UPS and enjoy freedom!
Chinese made solar panels at 75 cent per watt are the best bet for Pakistan.No body can steal power made in your own home.This coupled with LED lights can take care of most household lighting.Fans and refrigerator.It will cost about 10000 USD per household which most pakistanis can afford or special loans sanctioned .
Acute Shortage of power will only be overcome when Government will privatize Distribution Companies DISCOS, and the first step of these private distribution companies should be to replace meters with prepaid system either by prepaid card that could be reloaded through banks such as prepaid debit cards are card that can be used one time. further Generation of power should be controlled by Government and should be replaced oil and gas plant with nuclear and hydro. And should also encourage private investors to setup solar cells and pannels to manufacture locally as imported solar cells are expensive. These locally manufactures solar cells should be made mandatory to be use in street lights,neon signs and any type of power run adver.
For the collective good, i.e. public welfare, the first step is to eliminate the peak load from residential and commercial air conditioning — reduce voltage supplied. Switching to gas generators can be eliminated by similar reduction in pressure. We are then left with legitimate demand from production – agriculture and industry – and from justice demands of small users. Fulfill production demand. If the residual cannot meet small use demand then install small solar and wind systems. How to finance? Redirect subsidies away from energy profits to small users. Just think of the inequity in giving a blanket subsidy to KESC of Rs 30 billion! Why not Kalabagh and more dams? Incredibly expensive, financially and ecologically, for the purpose. By the way, we need a law that prohibits hot costumes for all those jokers receiving public funds. Old photos of the Peoples Liberation Army in China and Viet Nam will show the awaminess — shorts and banians every day except for ceremonies.
The power crises can be controlled to some extent if we can stop power theft and the only solution is to give power to small vendors and these vendors than distribute it to consumers. just like the case of cable operator they never complain of theft as they have men and machinery to stop theft and to recover the charges. they can lay the cable instead of the open wiring so that there will be no chance of KUNDA.
Perhaps we need new battalion of bureaucrats who know how to translate a leader’s wishes in to concrete form than to give them excuse why it can’t be done!
Pakistan should count its blessing that there are no grids collapsing as in India — with 180 million people without electricity.
Bro gird collapse is a technical problem nd India’s deficit is less than 9% of our total demand. Within 24 hrs the power was restored in al of effected areas in India. One shud nt worry about India as india id gong to invest $400 billion in next 5 yrs in infrastructure sector wer power sector wil get major amount of share and at the same time India has indigenously developed thorium based hybrid reactors which and India has World’s largest thorium reserve so India wil not hav any problem. i think Pakistan shud think and plan about its power problems, which is much more severe than India.
that’s a one off incident, pakistan is doing so “good” without the grid where you get no electricity for upto 16 hours a days, have you not been in touch lately? or shall I say for the past 3 years?
No dear, Indian experienced grid collapse and it will be completely restored like in a week. But in Pakistan, we are having power cuts for as long as 5-6 years now.
Sir, you have highlighted one of the many issues and challenges facing the country. Yes there are ways to overcome the power shortages provided other issues are tackled simultaneously. Pakistan needs parallel developments and not pyramidal developments.
The issues that need to be tackled are, corruption at all levels, lack of education, lack of organisation, lack of finance, bad governance, feudalistic system, abject poverty and explosion of population, to list a few. In addition the situation is made worse by militancy and intolerance that are sapping resources as well. If we continue to say that it takes time to reach the goal, we shall never achieve it. Pakistan needs a systematic approach towards achieving self sufficiency in the power sector.
when the Govt. officials have time from looting and corruption, they may bring in people who “know” the job and can put togather a framework, starting with upgrading the infrastructure, better yet, privatise it !!! yes … let the companies be responsible for their services, there is no accountability in place a the moment and it’s too much for wapda and other authorities to contain this issue, it’s out of hand and there is no fix up unless you overhaul the whole system.
No, the govt will not be able to solve the loadshedding problem before its time is up because it was never serious in solving it in the first place. countless years have been waisted and still no clear cut road map to solve this problem. No competent techinical advisers available in our country to guide these clueless politicians. As far as i see people will have to come out on the streets and have to shake our leaders from their self imposed slumber. look how ANP and other coalition partners have been compelled by their people into action! its all about PEOPLE POWER other wise status quo will be maintained.
There are several options available to Pakistan to overcome the shortfall v ery quickly: Wind, Solar, Coal, rivers, nuclear and import from Iran, only thing which is lacking is a functioning, honest and farsighted government.
Pakistan doesn’t need politicians it needs good administrators and organizers.
Agha sb. raise your hand I will vote for you !!!
All around me i see bulbs open during the daytime and i can well imagine what else is happening inside such houses simply in order to make sure that someone else is deprived of electricity, power or politics of the majority as they call it.
The energy problem in Pakistan isn’t an isolated problem but one that it faces with many neighbouring countries too. It also must be pointed out that it isn’t merely a problem that is sorted out overnight but will take time and resources o conquer. This problem is compounded in Pakistan due to corruption, rising circular debt and lack of planning. It is a problem that must be tackled stepwise.
Short term solutions to this problem is to relieve the debt plaguing the sector, it’s the most straightforward answer I can give. Strict policies on line losses, defaulters and corruption must be implemented immediately. Line thieves should be severely punished, irregardless of position or status, and not only should the bare minimum of fuel be always present but rapid alternatives such as imports from neighbouring countries considered.
Since this is a crisis upon the nation the nation too should play its part by doing its utmost to minimise wasting this resource. Thus I shift the attention to medium term management of this dilemma. For one, Pakistanis should do their utmost to conserve electricity by use of energy efficient appliances, turning off excessive sources of electricity, building energy efficient buildings and decreasing automobile usage. It is imperative that we comprehend the magnitude of this crisis and play our part responsibly as a neglect of the crisis leads to more wastage. This is a role that the media must perform by widespread campaigns to conserve electricity. The government must implement rules on saving electricity domestically and commercially. The habit of extravagant lighting on religious festivals and weddings must be abolished no matter how much ire it draws from the public.
On the long run, It is vital that our energy sector become as independent as possible from fossil fuel imports as the mounting costs add to an already expensive tariff. Furthermore serious investments should be made in the area of renewable energy production, in the form of Dams, solar power fields, wind farms and tidal power
.
Dams are a complete environmental hazard and many people in the western world are justifiably suspicious of both solar & wind, what to speak of nuclear. Blind adherence to industrialization has proven to be suicidal.