Pakistani power is predominantly produced by private institutions in a public grid system. Though many measures have been taken to ensure that these institutions make electricity readily available, problems arise through the supply chain, providers, fuel extractors, and independent power generators. Energy is an oligopoly, a fragmented market controlled by multiple hegemonies that take control of their respective areas under this sector. This sector is a fragmented monopoly each controlled by organisations who have sold their morals and duties for a quick buck.
When you control the flow of energy, you control the economic output of a state. Everyone, from industries to the state, is at your beck and call due to your control of production. This situation has led to energy theft, a system where energy is diverted off-grid without any consequences or providers don’t pay bills, and the hiking of prices. This has inadvertently resulted in the failure of the supply chain, making this commodity a privilege for those that can afford it and a curse for those who can’t.
The failure of the supply chain has resulted in ‘Load Shedding’ when distributors shut down the power supply to recuperate for the high demand and the short supply. The supply will continue to deplete showing how independent organisations have taken to neglect the need for sustainability. One of the other major problems is development: all data on Pakistan energy consumption is commercial energy consumption, the energy that is billed in the National Grid with WAPDA and companies, what it doesn’t take into account is non-commercial consumption. Non-commercial consumption shows the entire picture of Pakistani energy use, showing the true picture of the underdevelopment of this sector and the criminal negligence and exploitation of the people by Multinational Organisations. Energy has become a privilege when it was supposed to be a right.
Governmental policies abet this issue no less, with higher subsidisation of oil-based fuels and lower development into more sustainable and renewable power sources. The lack of supply, the lack of power transportation, along with higher payoffs for private institutions have made energy an industry to profit off of. The most disquieting problem is the redundancy of current laws, there is no evolution in this sector and the current bills that profited energy distributors are no different from the ones introduced 30 years ago. In the span of three decades, we have seen growth and evolution in the education sector, the financial sector, and the state. But one remnant of an age-old time is the energy sector. And as long as this is the status quo, Pakistan will always be fighting with one arm behind its back, by its own choice.
AHMED ARIF PIRACHA
LAHORE
