Power shortfall

The severe power shortfall is into its third year. The government continues to insist that it is an inherited problem and that its solution would necessarily take some time. However, this explanation is premised on an inordinate focus on one reason for massive ongoing loadshedding: a generational shortfall whereby demand does not meet supply.
The previous government, so goes this allegation, simply did not invest appropriate amounts in developing the country's generational capacity with the objective of ensuring that future demand would be met. Given that energy generation projects' implementation takes from medium to long-term to complete therefore it would take some time before the government-supported investments would begin to bear fruit. Or such is the crux of the argument put forth by the federal government. The situation on the ground, however, is markedly different.
There is evidence to suggest, evidence backed by a third-party audit undertaken by the Asian Development Bank on the controversial rental power projects (RPPs) that the main reason for a shortfall is not generation but mismanagement of the power sector. Some of mismanagement, critics of the government argue, is deliberate while some is inherited and/or inadvertent on the government's part.
The deliberate mismanagement is largely attributed to the RPPs proposed by the then Minister for Water and Power, Raja Parvez Ashraf, who changed the terms of reference mid-way through the bidding process, thereby giving rise to legitimate criticism. The criticism was effectively spearheaded by a member of the PML (Q), then in opposition, Faisal Saleh Hayat, who is now a member of the government.
The nature of inherited/inadvertent mismanagement ranges from the failure of the government to ensure that the inter-circular debt is resolved third year running, the single major impediment to generation at well below capacity, to the massive transmission and distribution losses, which have been evident in this country throughout its history, and the failure of the government to implement power sector reforms with respect to ensuring full cost recovery of the sector for political reasons.
There is thus a need to resolve deliberate as well as inherited/inadvertent mismanagement if the government is to succeed in reducing the number of hours of loadshedding per day to a publicly acceptable level. The current Minister for Water and Power, Naveed Qamar, has been accused, while holding the previous portfolio, of hiring his loyalists without taking into account the financial needs of the entity or indeed the recruitment needs or qualifications.
The government must begin to accept responsibility for the ongoing loadshedding. Statistics that are released periodically reveal that the supply condition is improving. However, these claims do not appear to translate into lower loadshedding hours. While the householders are the most vocal in their anger at the government for failing to provide some relief with respect to loadshedding. Yet what has to be accepted is that energy shortages have led to a marked decline in the country's industrial productivity leading to higher unemployment rates and lower growth rate.
There is, therefore, a need for urgent remedial measures if loadshedding is to be effectively dealt with that are still not in place. The federal government needs to ensure that electricity bills are paid by public sector entities and that the inter-circular debt, that continues to resurface, is eliminated once and for all.
There is a need to link pay-rise and promotion in the electricity department with a reduction in transmission and distribution losses. There is also a need to ensure full-cost recovery but upping the total bill, while subjecting the consumer to over 10 hours of loadshedding, is not the way forward and merely fuels public discontent as is evident from violent protests against loadshedding in various cities and towns.