Energy Crisis in Pakistan

Pakistan’s energy sector is in crisis. Its problems seem insurmountable. Although positive initiatives have been implemented over the years many opportunities have been lost. The result is the current predicament. Power outages of up to eighteen hours a day disrupt the lives of people and threaten the economy in an unprecedented way. Despite abundant installed capacity, the power system is mired in critical operational issues including a pervasive circular debt. Payment arrears between various entities have jammed the flow of funds through the power supply-chain, and deprived fuel suppliers and independent power producers of cash to the extent that their viability and therefore output is jeopardized. Demand is outstripping supply at a time when the country’s security situation imposes obvious constraints. But if the energy deficit is not urgently tackled it contains the seeds of dangerous social unrest. Equally disquieting is the fact that energy policy initiatives being promoted today are the same as those proposed some thirty years ago, indicating little implementation progress in the intervening years while the crisis deepened.