Energy Minister Hammad Azhar has assured the nation that the double whammy it was facing in the shape of power outages and gas shortages would be over, as gas supplies from Reliquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) reached 70 percent yesterday (Saturday) and reached full capacity on Monday (tomorrow). Among the reasons he gave for the current electricity load shedding, none could be classified as unpredictable. That RLNG terminals had to be drydocked at a certain time was known. That there would be low levels of water in the dam reservoirs, and thus a shortage of hydel, was also something entirely to be predicted at this time of the year. That certain areas have seen all power connections cut, because line losses went beyond a certain level, seemed a harking back to the concept of collective punishment that was the most irritating aspect of the Frontier Crime Regulations in place in the Tribal Areas. While collective punishment has been abolished after the Tribal Areas have been absorbed in KP, the distribution companies still practise it, instead of reducing their line losses themselves, without involving the consumer.
It is ironic that this is an area where the PTI government has inducted supposed experts in one aspect of energy or the other, but where it finds itself getting poor results. It is also perhaps poetic justice that the government is relying on RLNG to save its bacon, as it will not just fuel power plants, but also go directly to houses. The PTI, before coming to office, had condemned the deal that had brought RLNG to the country, and had hounded former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi through NAB for having made it.
The PTI has not shown it can handle the day-to-day management of the power sector. It needs to work on this aspect, with prior planning for events known because they happen every year, and because consumers take their utilities, both power and gas very seriously, to keep them in mind at the hustings. The next general election is not so far that the PTI can afford any disdain.
