As a parting gift to the government, former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin offered a solution to the circular debt crisis - a problem that has been described, by the U.S government and IMF officials, as one of the most challenging impediments to Pakistans economic recovery.
Energy experts have long explained the gap between production costs of electricity and the tariffs set by NEPRA as the root cause of the circular debt problem. Power producers have argued that revenues earned do not match the cost of producing electricity, thereby causing the deficit.
However, all subsidies on electricity are being withdrawn as of April this year, as a result of the IMF programme. Once that happens, the only inefficiencies will be internal to the various stakeholders involved in the power supply chain.
So, with the subsidy going out of the system soon, can it be expected to be the last bailout of the power industry? Tarins new mechanism might offer some help.
Exact workings of the proposed solution are yet to be learnt, but in broad terms, the government will issue another TFC worth Rs15 billion to inject liquidity, on top of Rs40 billion reportedly being added to the system to ensure the solvency of fuel suppliers.
But the important thing is that the Ministry of Finance, according to the announcement on Saturday, is going to adjust the outstanding liabilities of all public departments from their existing budget allowances.
Neat plan! But with Tarin out of the picture, who is going to bell the cat.
Power distributors have long being unable to manage their cash flows. Tarin suggested in a recent interview that Pepco be made a holding company and encourage managements at distribution companies to become more efficient.
It will be interesting to see whether Tarins solution announced on his last day in office will even be implemented by his successor. But it will be even more interesting to see how the issue of line losses and politically explosive kundas are dealt with.
Line losses at the power distributors and under utilization of power plants will no longer be acceptable reasons for the power crisis. Then again, problems with infrastructure development require long-term investment, which in itself is suffering from a crisis of confidence.
As for the kundas, innovative advertising campaigns that play on collective citizen interest may be effective in driving home the need for all to pay for the electricity use. Still, don expect too much too soon.
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