If power consumers, both in the domestic and commercial sectors, are exasperated over frequent electricity outages, they had better prepare for a worse summer next year. That message emanated, loud and clear, from Wednesday's meeting of the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB).
The meeting, called by the Minister for Water and Power, Liaqat Ali Jatoi, was told that the electricity shortfall for this year was over 29,000 MW, and that the situation is going to get worse next year.
Clearly, the increasing gap between supply and demand was not foreseen and nothing was done to bridge it earlier. This happened despite the fact that our government leaders do not tire of claiming credit for a high GDP growth rate and extensive electrification of rural areas - the latter as part of the government commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Wapda Chairman Tariq Hamid told the PPIB meeting that the utility had electrified as many as 43,670 villages since 2003-04 against electrification of only 73,829 villages in the preceding period beginning from the time of Independence.
Which surely is a proud achievement. But considering the frequency and duration of daily power cuts in the big cities, it is not hard to imagine that even though they may have power lines, the newly electrified villages have to make do without power supply for hours, if not days, at a stretch.
Energy being the lifeblood of economic activity, if the shortage is not addressed urgently and effectively it will further aggravate matters regarding such crucial issues as inflation, especially food inflation which has registered a big surge over the last quarter, unemployment and poverty. Unless there is effective intervention, it will not take long for the energy crisis to hit the production sector, triggering more inflation, more unemployment, and more poverty.
Public outcry over recurring power outages seems to have stirred the government into action. Wednesday's meeting was called by Jatoi to review progress on a number of new projects undertaken by Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The minister urged all concerned, including the relevant regulatory authority, Nepra, to sort out issues with the IPPs who are demanding higher tariff, and market-based indexation to ensure better returns on their investments. Hopefully, these issues will be settled soon so that the projects are completed within the scheduled timeframe.
Most of these are fast track projects, and can be trusted to help meet our short term requirements though they are not expected to become operational before the end of the next year. The government must also come up with a comprehensive long term plan in accordance with the country's growing energy needs.
It may be recalled that only a few years ago when the previous generation of IPPs became operational, the government felt their performance was satisfactory enough for it to start bragging about an electricity surplus. For a time there was even talk of exporting electricity to India's energy starved north-western states, but it did not get very far due to a high price difference between the prevalent rate in India and the one demanded by the sellers on this side.
The example shows the adhocism that characterises much of our policy planning and implementation. As it transpires, rather than selling surplus electricity to India we are unable to meet our own demand. What we need at this point in time is a comprehensive, long-term energy plan that has to be implemented on a war-footing.