Early market closure, 4-day working week suggested to conserve energy
ISLAMABAD – The government has chalked out a national emergency plan for energy conservation aimed at reducing import bill of the country.
The plan was devised at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Thursday.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the Power Division’s proposed plan to curb electricity theft of Rs380-400 billion annually.
The plan suggests outsourcing electricity bill collection to the private sector and policing to enforce a writ of electricity distribution companies (Discos).
The official added that there were proposals to shut markets at 7pm in winter and 8pm in summer with four working days and one day of work from home in a week to conserve energy. The promotion of using electric bikes for the masses to use for transportation was also discussed in the meeting. Medical stores would remain open for 24 hours. The conservation and steps to cope with theft would be presented for further discussion in the federal cabinet for approval.
The participants were briefed that the import bill could drop by $1.5 to $2.5 billion per annum by enforcing the conservation measures, provided the plan is enforced by all provinces. The prime minister also ordered authorities to convert public sector offices and buildings to solar energy as soon as possible. The official revealed that the government plans to outsource the electricity billing collection to private companies and would award contracts for this in the first quarter of 2023.
Sharing detail of the meeting, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, in a series of tweets, said the plan will be tabled in next cabinet meeting for final approval and all the Chief Ministers would be invited in the meeting. She said the plan will be implemented in consultation with the provinces.
The information minister said crackdown against electricity theft and conversion of government building on solar energy are part of the plan.
Furthermore, the government would also legislate to allow Discos to set up dedicated police stations to deal with electricity theft. In addition, the government will increase the installation of advanced metering of infrastructure (AMI) by June 2023 on all high-loss feeders’ transformers, starting with feeders with the highest loss in their jurisdiction in descending order.
The AMI system will be installed on all industrial and commercial connections too, bulk consumers and one-point supply in descending order of their loads. This installation of the high-tech system without the man intervention will reduce pilferage significantly.
