Fuelling trouble

As summer approaches, the acute power shortfall in the country will move onto the centre-stage of our national problems. Indeed, even before summer hits with full might, and with the north of the country in fact enjoying a prolonged spring, the shortfall we are told already stands at around 5000MW to 6000MW. This will not be an easy gap to fill. Lack of electricity, a problem familiar to all of us, affects not only domestic consumers but has over the years come close to crippling the industrial sector as power looms, a backbone of the textile sector grind to a halt and the wheels at other factories, quite literally, stop turning too. The prime minister has addressed the issue at a meeting in Islamabad, attended by top power officials including the minister for water and power, who seems likely to face some tough times ahead as power flickers out and the heat, literally and metaphorically speaking, rises. The PM has pledged that during his tenure 10,000MW of power will be added to the national grid and alternative means, such as solar and wind energy, also used to increase power availability.
However, all this is for the future; right now we must also deal with the immediate and the immediate does not look good at all. The PM has ordered the early closure of markets and shops, as a means to save electricity, but we know from past experience that such orders are not well complied with and are only partially effective. We do hope Sharif’s directives to limit loadshedding to six hours in urban centres and eight in rural areas will be adhered to, even though the question arises as to why people in rural areas are treated as second class citizens. The truth is that our power sector is in a frightening mess. Because of mounting circular debt, which now stands at Rs269 billion, four gas-based IPPs – Halmore Power, Orient Power, Saif Power and Sapphire Electric – find themselves in deep trouble. Because of gas shortages they have for months been forced to run on high-speed diesel. The decision by the government early this year to gradually raise the General Sales Tax on diesel by 37 percent while failing to raise the sales tax on electricity has meant that these IPPs are running at huge losses, are close to bankruptcy and have been adding zero megawatts to the national grid. This is naturally not an encouraging situation. What makes it even worse is the fact that the FBR has not been able to make tax refunds because of its own financial constraints. As a result, companies like the National Transmission and Dispatch Company which runs under the Wapda umbrella face their own woes. The situation as a whole is not pretty. Our power crisis is not likely to be solved any time soon. Turning off lights in our bazaars and markets will not make a significant difference and the crisis is one we seem destined to live with for some time to come.