From Karachi to Jhang and everywhere else in Pakistan it seems, power riots are roiling the country. There is no single cause of the blackouts. In Karachi, the KESC claims it has enough electricity to power the city, but that was of scant comfort on Tuesday to those braving a third consecutive day without electricity.

Clearly, the KESC needs to work on its emergency response capabilities. In Punjab, the summer heat combined with low electricity production has driven people out on to the streets to vent their frustration against their electricity providers. Systemically, there is a straightforward central fact involved: the peak demand for electricity far outstrips peak supply, especially in summer. Combine that fact with dilapidated transmission and distributions systems, organisational inefficiencies, managerial incompetence and resource constraints and you get what you have at the moment: a torrid summer of discontent. Help though may be on its way from both nature and man: the monsoon ought to bring down the peak temperatures across much of the country, while power plants currently off line may soon restart and add more power to the national grid.

The actions of the mobs rioting on the streets and causing damage to private and public property cannot be condoned in any circumstances. Yet, there are several things that can be done to reduce the anger felt by the people. First, is there any good reason why any locality should go without electricity for days on end? If not, then the regional electricity supply companies must do better. Second, is there any reason why consumers should not have accurate information about their electricity predicament? There clearly have to be power cuts, but the randomness and, one suspects, unnecessary severity is what irks consumers. Must violence be the only way for the people to get what they are meant to have?