There was some sound and fury on the caretaker premier’s part on the issue of electricity bills. And, as almost always is the case, it signified nothing at all. Reverse these high prices, said PM Kakar on the much higher than usual bills. But it was more akin of a deranged monarch from the past, ordering the sun to rise from the west. If the rates and bills could have remained the same, they would have remained the same. The DisCos do not have a masochistic wish to bear the public’s ire.
As the country faces terrible energy riots that are set to only get worse before winter starts, there are some depressing realities that have to be taken into account. For starters, we have to comply with what the IMF has asked us to do. Because the Fund did, after all, do what we had asked it to do. For argument’s sake, if we were to forget the IMF, the fact of the matter remains that we produce and distribute electricity at too high a cost for it to be sold for cheap. If we do not rectify that situation, things are only going to get worse. Unstoppable force.
The public, already beset with woes of inflation, now have to grapple with bills that constitute a huge proportion of household incomes. There is no way at all that it is even possible for them to cough up the amounts that are showing up in their electricity bills. Immovable object.
Even though there is no conceivable resolution to the crisis, it would do the government well to do something on the optics front. For starters, even though it would make no difference to the electricity bills, it should announce that the entire cabinet and senior bureaucracy would now have to pay their electricity bills in full at their residences.
Second, a large reason our bills are so high is the taxes levied on the units. They are just too many and too high. The entire revenue apparatus of the federal government collects more than a trillion rupees through absolutely no effort of their own, from the electricity bills. This points not (just) to the laziness of the FBR, but to the abject unwillingness of the elite to pay their due share of taxes.
This is going to be a long, tough slog. Sleeves need to be rolled up, belts need to be tightened, and shoulders need to be put up to the task.
There are some tough decisions to be made, ones that can be taken only with an elected, representative government in place. The caretaker government should not forget its place and arrange for a quick transfer of power.
