DISCO debacle

This letter refers to the news report ‘Solarisation, industrial slowdown slash Pakistan’s power demand by a tenth’ (November 21, 2024). With the constant exorbitant increases in the electricity tariff, the ‘high-end’ customers are shifting to solar energy to reduce their monthly expenses on electricity consumption. These are the same customers who consume most of the electricity. As a result, the onus of paying for the electricity distributed by the DISCOs is falling on the less affluent and poorer segments of society.

Most of the IPPs were installed to cater to seasonal electricity demands for cooling (air conditioners) during the summer season and not for a base load that stays more or less constant during the whole year. Our planners never realised that by installing and selling expensive electricity they would eventually drive away their best customers and alienate the remaining who have to bear the ever increasing generation cost and capacity charges. The DISCOs are getting to a point in some areas where they do not generate even the bare minimum revenue for operation and maintenance of the distribution system.

Ayub Malik

Rawalpindi