Pakistan announced last week that from 1 July, commercial centres and markets must close at 8pm, as part of a government-led national plan to save energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officially titled the \u2018Strategic Plan<\/a>\u2019 by the country\u2019s National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA), established under the Ministry of Energy, the policy was first discussed<\/a> in mid-2022. It was then approved<\/a> by senior ministers in December 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At that time, Pakistan\u2019s federal minister for climate change Sherry Rehman<\/a> highlighted a reduction in fossil fuel use as a benefit of the plan, while the official policy brief<\/a> also mentions an \u201cassociated benefit of reduction in GHG [greenhouse gas] emission to the tune of 35 MTCo2e [metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent]\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But remarks from key government representatives<\/a> and prime minister Shehbaz Sharif have indicated that the policy has one key objective: to spend less of the country\u2019s dwindling foreign exchange reserves on imported fuel at a time when the Pakistan economy is on the verge of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan\u2019s minister for planning and development, whose ministry is spearheading the energy conservation policy, told The Third Pole: \u201cOur current account deficit is growing. We have to save every single dollar and this plan is one solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pakistan government\u2019s anxiety around energy costs stems from its increased spending on imported fuel. According to the government\u2019s annual economic survey, Pakistan\u2019s oil import bill increased by 95.9% to USD 17.03 billion<\/a> for the period July 2021 to April 2022, compared to USD 8.69 billion for the corresponding period in the previous year. The survey attributed<\/a> the staggering increase to \u201chigher oil prices in the global market\u2026[and] massive depreciation of the Pakistani rupee [which] is making oil more expensive, triggering external sector pressure and widening the trade deficit of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May this year, inflation<\/a> in Pakistan reached highs not seen since the 1950s. It is in this context of rising import bills, high domestic inflation and fears of economic collapse that the energy conservation plan has been introduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the plan\u2019s \u2018implementation roadmap\u2019, seen by The Third Pole:<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Value calculated based on exchange rate on 12 June 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n While the government has set the 1 July deadline for early market closures, timeframes for the remaining actions are yet to be made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPakistan can save up to 15% of energy under this plan and curtail its ballooning import bill,\u201d Sardar Mohazzam, managing director of the NEECA, told The Third Pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe government is serious about the plan and its implementation is in full swing,\u201d Mohazzam added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohazzam said that taking these steps ahead of Pakistan\u2019s peak electricity demand in the summer months \u2013 which typically more than doubles to 29,000 MW<\/a> in the summer months compared to 12,000 MW in winter, largely due to use of fans in the heat \u2013 will have a \u201csubstantial impact\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as the government sets out its stall on energy conservation, questions of implementation and market resistance<\/a> persist, while experts question what the government is doing to end Pakistan\u2019s long-term reliance on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPakistan\u2019s rising fuel bills<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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