Electricity Crisis in Pakistan

I arrived at Lahore at 1:45am on Monday Feb. 11th and decided to take a shower the lights went out due to a power outage, my first shower in complete darkness in a strange place. This is very common in Lahore; people know when lights are going to out in their neighborhood. I am staying at my Uncle’s house and the lights are out every morning from 9-10am, 12-1pm and 6-7pm. This is common practice.

There is electricity shortage in Lahore and rest of the country. The people blame the changing government and changing strategy for this shortage. The shortage in electricity started in 1995, during Benazir government, when Pakistan’s economy was booming and there was more demand than supply. Benazir government needed a quick fix; they decided to give private contracts to Independent Power Units (IPU) from Arab countries. They provided power to the state owned electricity generator and distributor (WAPDA) at a much higher price than hydro generated electricity. The government subsidized the power and consumers were happy as their demand for electricity was met. This reminds me of the Enron crisis in California when we had Grey Davis as the Governor of California.

Then came Nawaz Sharif and his government they were shocked by the price gouging, and what WAPDA (PG&E equivalent) was paying to buy power from the IPUs , Nawaz Sharif’s government decided to renegotiate the price and deal structure with the IPUs making it not worthwhile for the IPUs to continue to operate. The IPUs started to shut down. At the same time Pakistan’s economy took a dive and the demand for electricity went down. When Musharaf government came and Pakistan’s economy also started to improve, his government decided to invest in Hydropower to prevent the looming energy crisis. This investment was blocked by inter-provincial rivalry. But the people here say that investment in Hydropower has not happened and now there is a real energy crisis in Pakistan. Many people also believe that nuclear power plants are the way to go.

In desperation many domestic and most commercial consumers now have their own emergency generators in their homes and business places. The noise of these generators can be heard everywhere.