Government failure

Once again, certain regions of the country find themselves grappling with prolonged and persistent electricity loadshedding. In Lahore and its neighbouring districts, consumers are enduring scheduled loadshedding ranging from three to four hours in areas served by high-recovery feeders, and five to eight hours in areas with low-recovery or high-loss feeders. Additionally, forced outages and intermittent tripping further compound the challenges. Similarly, residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are contending with both scheduled and unscheduled outages, lasting one to two hours daily.

The deteriorating power situation is primarily attributed to inadequate generation, an outdated and insufficient transmission and distribution (T&D) system, flawed strategies, imprudent use of available resources, and high T&D losses. Evidently, the government has faltered in effectively addressing the energy crisis. It has neglected to address the mismanagement, inefficiencies, and various institutional issues within the power sector. Regrettably, the dream of having adequate and affordable electricity remains elusive for the country’s approximately 135 million consumers.

Hussain Siddiqui

Islamabad