COMMENT
There is a realisation in the world that the earth cannot be left at the mercy of some of its errant habitants, and we have to mitigate the adverse impacts of fossil fuels, combustion, and other such activities. The focus needs to be on energy efficiency and conservation.
If strict energy conservation methods are put in place, the demand for electricity will be reduced, and so will the need to increase the number and scale of electricity production facilities.
In Pakistan, it will also reduce fuel use and restrict national dependency on fuel imports, as well as emissions and environmental pollution.
There is dire need to address macro as well sectoral issues with a view to achieve sustainable energy performance across the provinces in all the key energy consuming sectors. These efforts of energy efficiency and conservation will mitigate the impact of this great crisis that has erased more than two percent of the GDP growth and has put 4.1 million people out of jobs.
The energy crisis being faced by Pakistan is gigantic and so the solution needs to address bigger dimensions too. No single institution or government can do it. There is a genuine need for the whole society, including educational, social, institutional, and political organs to work in tandem within a well conceived legal framework.
Conservation is always something which emerges from culture and habits- and old habits die hard. Thus a genuine conservation effort needs a full-fledged legal and enforcement effort, capitalising on the incentives announced.
Energy Conservation Bill 2011 will become an act soon, but this largely deals with institutional framework of ENERCON. The question is how it would be transformed into the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA).
One of the foremost needs is to acknowledge that appliances being manufactured in Pakistan are sub-standard and energy guzzlers. Further, they are being manufactured with conscious knowledge of the appliances being substandard, and thus can squarely fall within the ambit of ‘malicious wastage of energy’ under section 40 of the Electricity Act 1910.
Major portion of all motors being manufactured in Gujranwala and armatures of fans being manufactured in Gujrat are substandard as these are stamped out of steel scrap, like signboards, bus body cuttings or drum sheets. Even a new entrant in this industry knows these must be made of non-grain-oriented silicon electrical steel sheet.
Similarly, transformers of uninterrupted power supply systems (UPS) must be made of grain-oriented silicon electrical steel sheet. This rule is also being violated.
Due to the usage of substandard materials and components, the situation is deplorable. The locally manufactured fans are consuming more than 120 watt to 170 watt instead of the international standards of 80watt. Further, manufacturers compensate for the low displacement of air of these fans by increasing revolutions per minutes to 400 instead of following the international standard of 320-340RPM.
A conservative estimate is that more than 1,500 megawatt can be conserved just by the fans sector, if the electronic appliance was manufactured from silicon electrical steel sheet. Similarly, more than 800 megawatt conservation potential exists in the motors.
More than 80 percent of these products have ‘defects in design’ as per section six of the Punjab Consumer Protection Act of 2005.
The packaging of the product claims that the appliances have been manufactured using silicon electrical steel or pure copper, while the fact of the matter has been explained. The law clearly provides an effective remedy in terms of Section 32 of the Punjab Consumers Protection Act which stipulates imprisonment up to two years in case of violation.
However, the issue is not just with the law but also the lack of awareness among consumers, prosecution, consumer unions/associations, and the overall legal fraternity. Other factors contributing to this lack of implementation are the dormant consumer protection councils.
In view of the current energy crisis, it is imperative to not only provide a legal remedy to this problem, but also to criminalise the manufacturing, storage, and sale of such products that harm the overall economy. Products that do not conform to the legal standards should not be recognised by the authority.
The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority needs to take action and implement what is written in the law. There needs to be legal process against those who manufacture substandard products that in the long run consume far more electricity, making the system unsustainable.
The standards body as well as the consumer protection councils need to take to task the manufacturers who are producing substandard products and distributers who make these products available to the unsuspecting consumers. The law provides protection to the consumers in Pakistan and such manufacturers can be prosecuted under Section 40 of the Electricity Act, leading to two years of imprisonment.
Public awareness is also must to control wastage of electricity. Often streetlights are on during broad daylight. Appliances remain switched on in public and private buildings throughout the day. Computers and mobile phone chargers remain plugged despite of no use. Home appliances too are not unplugged after usage, which also wastes energy.
However, simply awareness too will not work. Awareness built on penalties will serve as breaking news and thus make deep inroads into the status quo.
In all this, the role of DISCOs is important as well. It is they who suffer the most due to load shedding. The cost paid by them is enormous; be it the erosion of moral authority, mudslinging or outright vandalism at their offices and outlets.
An effective and conducive legal framework already exists for them in the Consumer Service Manual as well, which is a binding legal document. It mandates that the DISCOS shall take steps towards improving the quality and reliability of electric services to maximise the value of the energy that is used and to increase the sale of power.
Consumers must be guided, coached and advised to be ‘energy smart’.
The need is to implement the National Power Policy 2013, especially one of the nine goals of the policy, that is ‘creating a culture of energy conservation and responsibility’.
The writer is director at Punjab Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency
