It seems to be a favorite hobby of a large segment of Pakistanis to blame the government for the electricity crisis and for seeking US Aid. While it is easy to criticize and blame Zardari for these problems, the bitter truths about the causes of these issues is the entire Pakistani nation and its attitude to electricity theft, non-payment of bills and non-payment of taxes. The blame goes to all people rich and poor, religious and secular, politicians and army, every one is included in the malaise of free electricity and no tax payment. The federal government cannot solve these problems with a magic stick.
“**The current crisis is being caused by the power companies and Pakistan State Oil (PSO). And, why are they not giving you electricity? That is simple. Power companies produce electricity using fuel from PSO. PSO has not been paid for the total amount of fuel consumed and wants its money now in order to provide future deliveries. The power companies sold electricity to local electrical distribution companies, like LESCO, FESCO, PESCO, IESCO and KESC, none of which have paid the total amount of money back to the power companies. As a result , the power companies are running at half capacity and they owe money to PSO, who in turn has cut off their fuel, leading to the worsening of the energy crisis. So, the question is why aren’t distribution companies paying for the electricity they are using? That answer too is simple.
** The bills they are receiving are not enough and there is serious electricity theft especially in Karachi and Peshawar. So, unless they get money for all the electricity supplied they cannot pay off the debt.”
“**Why do we even need aid? What good is aid for us? Why do we need American aid? Why don’t we work with the Chinese? **Even though all these questions have been answered at length, our media chose to discuss them again, instead of raising genuine questions. No one bothered to explain that Pakistan needs aid for a very basic reason: we just do not have enough money to fund our activities as only 2 per cent of the population pays taxes. No one clarified that we need American support through aid and otherwise in order to support our economy. No one bothered to explain that it is the US that helps Pakistan get the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, while China just makes statements. Love it or hate it, the US help to Pakistan is our need. They have an agenda, and we have a need, so the common sense here is to fulfill our need. But for some reason, our media chooses to blatantly lie to our people about this fact. We may not like it, but it is a fact that we need to come to terms with for a foreseeable future.”
Re: Causes of Electricity Crisis and US Aid -- Bitter truths
^ That is true to an extent, however we need breakdowns from KESC and other distributors/generators as to how much they spend on buying/generating power and how much they actually receive in bills from general public, government offices and political power houses. There is power theft, there is no denying, but I believe the "bill" also contains a charge "fuel adjustment charge" (or something like that) which is to overcome the theft cost.
Re: Causes of Electricity Crisis and US Aid – Bitter truths
Electricity theft is supported by Distribution companies’ staff. We all remember huge advertisement campaign started by KESC last year for announcing and then extending last date for disclosing faulty connection and payment of bill to avoid consequences including imprisonment. What happened? Nothing at all bcoz there was no will.
**Non-payment of bills **is also supported by a lobby. We remember daily protest at Karimabad causing heavy traffic jams. The protesters were traders who are defaulter for payment of electricity bills. When there connection were disconnected, they made their way through protests and KESC management couldn’t do anything against them for what so ever reason.
Payment of taxes Pakistanis are paying more Indirect taxes (Sales Tax, FED) than direct taxes (Income Tax). Government always inclined to burden the existing taxpayers (mostly salaried class) by levying new taxes (be it IDP tax for Internally Displaced persons of Sawat or Flood Surcharge) instead of broadening the tax net by levying taxes on industrial & agricultural income. For paying taxes, there must be two things. First. capability to pay [which is highly affected by uncontrolled inflation, increase in petroleum products (price structure includes various Govt levies including Sales Tax) on frequent basis] and the second motivation to pay (when I know my hard earned money paid as tax is going to be utilised on ministers ‘Ayyashi’, I’ll never be motivated to pay tax).
So government is directly and indirectly involved in above factors leading to crisis and need for aid (which is eventually goes to politicians’ personal Bank accounts instead of using for public welfare).
Re: Causes of Electricity Crisis and US Aid -- Bitter truths
Whats the percentage of electricity stolen?
One more thing, its a commonly know fact that stolen units are distributed to honest payers' bill, means there is something fishy regarding delay in payments by distribution companies (KESC, etc) to oil companies on the basis that they are unable to collect their bills.