Power problems

By Editorial Board
June 04, 2018

The former federal government liked to make tall claims about the power crisis in the country. Just a few days before the end of their tenure, former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi claimed credit for controlling the energy crisis in the country, a statement that was hardly welcomed by the millions plunged in electricity outages at the same moment. There was little change in power outage patterns since the now former PML-N government took over from the PPP in 2013. It was also not much of a surprise that just before the end of tenure the special parliamentary committee on circular debt was told that the transmission and distribution system needs $40-50 billion in investment to put an end to loadshedding. These numbers severely question the former government’s approach to the power sector, which had focused exclusively on increasing generation capacity without addressing the serious problems in the transmission and distribution infrastructure. The numbers staring us in the face are not small. The much-celebrated CPEC investment comes to around $70 billion. Over half of that amount is needed to just keep electricity running continuously in the country. The meeting was told that Pakistan had achieved peak generation but the transmission system did not have the capacity of actually being able to distribute it.

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The situation looks like a case of bad planning. How can generation capacity be increased if the distribution network does not have the capacity to distribute it? The details are ominous. Out of 8,631 feeders installed in the country, over 30 percent of them cause losses above 10 percent. Most of the major transmission lines are almost half a century old and need to be replaced. The orders to ensure no power outages in during sehri and iftari in Ramazan could not be met – and even if they were, they would cause major losses. There is little that can offer relief to citizens who have been fasting in the extreme heat without electricity. Any claims by the previous government that the power situation has been brought under control will find few believers. The structural problems in the power sector are severe and have not been addressed. The power grid cannot manage more electricity generation without a serious upgrade. But upgrading the grid is both expensive and makes no headlines for politicians. Moreover, the circular debt situation continues to be another Pandora’s box. The task of solving serious issues will fall to the next elected government. One would hope that the mistakes made in the power sector are not repeated.

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