WHENEVER a government runs out of ideas to deal with the power crisis, it resorts to the same gimmicks. Today, we’re hearing the government talk about early closure of shops, for instance.

Admittedly, this is only in the capital for now, but it must be remembered that the previous government tried this measure on more than one occasion and failed to implement it for very long.

Along with this, there were proposals such as distributing millions of energy-saver light bulbs with electricity bills, turning off air conditioners in government offices during designated hours, awareness campaigns to urge people to set their air conditioner to 26ºC, and even an attempt to introduce daylight savings time.

Take a look: Shops to shut down by 8pm in Islamabad, Punjab: CCE

None of these measures worked. Today they have become contents of a bag of failed tricks and gimmicks tried on numerous occasions in the past with few results.

If the measure is to be restricted to the capital only, then its impact is going to be minimal. Commercial consumers account for 7.5pc of IESCO’s total units billed, and are amongst the smallest category of consumer in the distribution company, except for tube wells and ‘other’.

Their growth rate is also very small. Moreover, this category includes offices and shops, so the amount of electricity saved by closing shops early is going to be even smaller.

As a power conservation measure, this step makes little sense, unless it is part of a larger plan to unroll over the entire country eventually.

But that step is going to be harder for the government to implement, especially since much of the power to do so lies with the provincial governments; and shopkeepers, who are a key PML-N constituency, have put up strident resistance to it in the past.

It appears the government is trying out various ideas in anticipation of the coming summer months when load-shedding is again set to return as a serious challenge. One can only hope that they have plans beyond publicity stunts of this sort once the temperatures begin to soar.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2015

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