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Money Matters

Half-baked measures

By Magazine Desk
27 April, 2015

Having failed to take any concrete measures to overcome energy crisis the government has resorted to implementing energy saving measures in the capital and Punjab,

Having failed to take any concrete measures to overcome energy crisis the government has resorted to implementing energy saving measures in the capital and Punjab, ie early closure of markets and regulating social activities during the night. Schools in the region will observe two-day holidays now, on Saturday and Sunday.

Unfortunately, these are simply cosmetic and half-baked measures. Similar schemes introduced to conserve electricity have not worked out in the past and would not work now. As expected, the traders’ community that bears most the brunt of power shortages and outages, has already rejected the government’s plan devised to reduce electricity load-shedding, which in any case would not be significant, even if energy conservation measures were strictly made effective. At present the share of commercial consumers is less than seven percent in total sales of electricity by the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC).

In May 2008, early closure of markets and daylight saving time was introduced to save energy during the peak summer season. The desired results however could not be achieved due to lack of its enforcement. Again, in October 2012 the energy conservation measures were announced for the capital in the first phase. Having declared Islamabad a model city for energy conservation, an immediate ban was imposed on use of decorative lights and illumination for all purposes. The plan however could not be implemented in letter and spirit.

The nation is facing energy crisis since 2004, but the situation has gotten much worse during recent years. Unfortunately, successive governments have failed to undertake a detailed study of the structural issues, and were thus unable to administer a comprehensive action plan to deal with various facets of the crisis pragmatically. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government is no exception in spite of tall claims it made to resolve energy crisis within a short time. Had the party been serious it should have done its homework through formulation of an action plan, adopting short-term, medium-term and long-term strategies.

It could have encompassed programmes to simultaneously increase power generation capacity, strengthen transmission network, to recover unpaid bills and to reduce line losses including theft. Such action plan with emphasis on good management would have been implemented as soon as party had come to power some two years ago. This was not done, and the government has already missed its chance of revamping the electricity network. Sadly, the situation is rotating in the same groove. Currently, there is a shortfall of about 4,600MW during peak hours. To manage the shortfall, the DISCOs are resorting to massive load-shedding----almost 10 to 12 hours in urban and up to 18 hours in rural areas.

Indeed, optimal conservation of electric supply in all sectors of economy could play a significant role to minimise prevalent massive load-shedding countrywide. The Demand-Side Management (DSM) applied to electricity system is of critical importance in reducing overall load on the national grid, and thus easing out long-hours electricity shortages and outages. The key elements of DSM, an internationally accepted measure to bridge demand-supply gap, include implementation of electricity conservation programme, launching a media campaign for prudent use of electricity, standardisation of all electrical and electronic appliances and application of energy management systems. Comprehensive conservation programmes are implemented through integrated policy measures, to rationalise use of electricity by increasing power efficiency, reducing electricity waste and optimising resource allocation.

Domestic consumers are growing at a very high rate on a year-on-year basis and currently 47 percent of electricity supplies are being made to this category by the NTDC. There is an urgent need to target domestic consumers, in the first phase. Major areas of electricity conservation in a household are lighting, domestic appliances and electric motor for water pumping, etc. For lighting, the use of energy savers (compact fluorescent lamps, LED light bulbs) instead of conventional incandescent lamps has to be promoted, which will result in 70-80 percent reduction in wattage consumed. The government did provide ten million energy savers to domestic consumers in recent past, and LED lights have recently been introduced. But, evidently, a large scale awareness campaign needs to be launched, supported with political will and commitment. When not in use, stand-by power of all electrical appliances should be switched off to avoid waste of power in the household. Vampire Energy, also known as Phantom Power, is the no-load power waste, which uses 10-15 percent electricity of a home. Selection of energy-efficient domestic appliances is also of great importance, as well as their proper regular maintenance.

There are cost-effective technologies that help prevent energy waste, such as passive infrared technology and control system. In this case, the sensor-based logic control software manages lighting system and heating/cooling equipment to go in energy saving mode, if installed in a residential or a commercial building for increased efficiency.

The government failed to provide an enabling legal environment for energy conservation. The draft of the Pakistan Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act is pending with the government for approval since 2011. According to ENERCON (National Energy Conservation Centre) studies, there is an average potential for 25 percent energy conservation. Total electricity billed and consumed at national level was 87,996GWh in the year ending June 30, 2014, and just one percent saving would mean about 880,000,000kWh units of electricity available additionally in the national grid yearly at peak hours.

 The writer is the Chairman of Institution of Engineers, Pakistan