The federal government is reportedly revisiting its two-pronged energy conservations policy it had abandoned through a notification with November 27, 2010 the date of effectivity: a two-day weekly holiday and resetting the clocks. At the time a spokesman for the Prime Minister's House had stated that the decision was taken after consultation with the provincial governments and respective ministries.
It may be recalled that traders and provincial governments had complained that the decision to have two weekly holidays as well as resetting of clocks was creating problems for them. The Ministry of Water and Power headed by Raja Parvez Ashraf at that time had stated that it would have no objections to the withdrawal of the policy as demand for electricity consumption typically declines during the winter months.
The Prime Minister's House would, without doubt, aver that the policy was not abandoned as at the time it was acknowledged by the relevant ministry that there was no need for load management during the winter months. With summer approaching the policy may be reactivated.
The government claims savings due to two weekly-offs was 300 MW, with lower use of energy guzzling air-conditioners by Pakistani officialdom, and 400 to 500 MW in terms of advancing the clocks during the summer months. Skeptics challenge these statistics by arguing that the government did not undertake any realistic exercise with respect to energy savings due to this two-pronged conservation policy. Additionally, critics of the government also point to the fact that it has not turned its attention to reducing transmission losses, which are the highest in the region.
Be that as it may, two negative factors need highlighting with respect to either giving two weekly holidays or clock resetting in the Muslim world in marked contrast to the West. First and foremost the reason why clock resetting does not work that well in Muslim countries is because our prayer times are linked to the setting and the rising of the sun. Thus an attempt to reset the clocks does have major implications on the lifestyle of those who pray five times a day, inclusive of a decline in their productive capacity.
Second and equally importantly while in the West there is a well developed work ethic which governs a certain level and quality of output no such ethic appears to be evident in the case of Pakistani officialdom. The focus on officialdom is premised on the fact that the private sector is not bound to follow the two weekly offs. Be that as it may, the two weekly offs led to a decline in productivity last year that was not offset by any savings due to energy demand management, critics argue and cite the slowdown in growth rate as a convincing evidence of their contention.
Newspaper reports reveal that there are many government (federal and provincial) departments/ministries as well as industrial houses that do not pay their energy bills on time. Strict action is required against these non-payers and one can only urge the government to take appropriate measures to ensure that the users of electricity or gas actually pay their bills failing which they must be disconnected from the power and gas supply lines.
In addition, the government has announced two weekly offs for gas supply to the textile industry in the Punjab, due to a court decision that allows the needs of the province where gas field is located to first meet its demand. There is, therefore, an urgent need for an appropriate action that would not lead to a massive decline in productivity and thereby raise unemployment levels. These conditions, if allowed to continue, would lay the groundwork for general public discontent with obvious political fallout. Thus there is a need for the government to begin effecting structural reforms notably by ensuring prompt bill payment by all and taking care of the inter-circular debt that continues to compromise the ability of the generating companies to operate at optimum capacity.
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