THE sporadic street protests in various towns and cities of Pakistan against frequent and prolonged power breakdowns are not surprising in the least.

On Thursday consumers gave vent to their anger in Lahore and Layyah. Other places too have witnessed similar scenes. After all, life for ordinary citizens is anything but easy and there are limits to one’s tolerance.

For those who cannot afford generators and UPS units the challenges are formidable. Given the heat and discomfort of the day and the darkness of the night, one can understand their frustration. But people also have to contend with other kinds of problems — losses in business, industrial productivity and in terms of education and healthcare. So dependent is national life on the supply of power that it is practically impossible to manage without electricity.

To the frequent interruptions in power supply we can add the uncertainty of unscheduled load-shedding, breakdowns that take ages to repair and the problem of voltage fluctuation. In other words, power supply has become most unreliable, and has hit productivity and the national economy the hardest.

The erratic nature of power supply is attributed to various factors. On the one hand is the failure of successive governments to enhance the country’s power-generating capacity to keep pace with the growing economy and increase in population.

On the other is poor maintenance and, worse still, the failures of management. If supply and distribution were better managed, the negative impact of power shortages and network breakdowns would be considerably alleviated. There are also circular debts that impede the performance of power-distribution agencies.

The fact is that if breakdowns are eliminated by better maintenance and power shortages are lessened through an equitable distribution system, many of the problems that drive people to the streets would be minimised. There is also another factor that must be taken into account. Repeated assurances by the authorities that load-shedding will end in a few months do not make consumers less hostile. But a load-shedding schedule that is strictly adhered to might help. Similarly, complaint centres that actually operate may also calm down irate consumers and prevent them from resorting to violence.