On 26th March a document was signed by government and private organisations to declare Karachi Earth Hour city. Earth Hour has no other purpose but to create public consciousness to the fast-depleting natural resources and energy resulting in climate change. This so-called city of lights badly needs awareness of its role in creating the global crisis, but it will take more than a declaration to make us realise our role and responsibility.
Karachi is the great energy guzzler in the country. Street electrification, water pumping, industrial and commercial and domestic consumption of electricity accounts for the use of 1900 mega watts (MG) per day. This is an ancient official figure; new position of energy consumption is not clearly stated by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) for reasons of their own, but it is estimated that the current consumption has jumped to atleast 2300 MG per day. About 500 MG per day supplied by WAPDA and 25 MG per day by HABCO is hydle power. The rest is generated by non-renewable resources 90 percent from Sui Gas and 20 percent from furnace oil. This includes power generated by KESC as well as by other suppliers.
Thus Karachi is not only the largest consumer of energy but also the largest user of non-renewable energy resources. In other words, this city should view itself as the one responsible for global warming from Pakistan. Put it another way, we are the chief culprits in the country for contributing to global warming.
Karachi likes to see itself as victim rather than criminal. We make loud noise at power shutdown and blackout but never think about the amount of energy we waste. It is not only the public, the KESC too waste a lot of energy. For example there is no need for so many street lights. At least two hours worth of energy could be saved by turning on the lights when it is dark. But street lights are turned on even before twilight sets in and turned off long after dawn.
A common phenomenon is to see street lights on through the whole day.
While KESC does not tell us the amount of energy it wastes in unnecessary street illumination, it complains of line loss through theft by the use of kundas. Electricity pilferage is a chronic menace. The shameful thing is that it is not the poor but these who can afford to buy electricity are the chief culprits.
We blame people living in kuchi-abadis for the pilferage. But according to NGOs working in these abaadis, even though power is supplied to consumers in these abaadis through the kunda, the poor pay for the electricity. Pay who? KESC workers. KESC has not done a survey of power supply to kuchi-abaadis through kunda. If it would have done it KESC could get rid of power theft by its own workers.
Must we assume KESC deliberately looks the other way while this theft goes on? There are technical reasons for line loss which happen all over the world. International line loss is a standard seven to ten percent.
In Karachi line loss due to technical faults is negligible. The main line loss is theft and that accounts for 40 percent line loss.
The kundas that put up in places like Defence Housing Authority, Clifton, PECHS and North Nazimabad is pilferage. The poor at least pay a monthly fee for their kundas in kuchi-abaadis but the middle-class and affluent pilfer, paying occasionally to the line man. They know it is theft, they know they are doing wrong. A Earth Hour will not create in them any awareness of their guilt.
A dozen justifications are given for stealing electricity, but the most popular excuse is inflated consumer billing. This is just an excuse because pilferage went on even in the days before unit prices began to go up phenomenally. It is believed that the amount of energy consumed through kundas is atleast twice as many units that appear on the consumer bill. In short, the kunda is the main supply of electricity, while the legal supply is merely a formality.
In 2009 in a desperate attempt to end power theft KESC appealed to people's conscience. It obtained a fatwa (decree) from ulema declaring power theft a sin. Twelve ulema declare "the illicit use of any commodity is a sin and in this case... use of electricity without payment is a sin." The KESC had hoped to appeal to the religiosity of Karachiites has become all-pervading. But two years on the fatwa has done nothing to stop pilferage. What it has demonstrated, however, is that the religious fervour is superficial by and large.
So the question to ask is, if religion cannot create awareness can an hour of dimming lights, turning off unnecessary lights, cutting out use of power for gadgets for an hour really create the consciousness when a fatwa could not succeed?
Earth Hour which started in Australia in 2007 became a global event in 2008. Pakistan began commemorating Earth Hour the same year, but as in the case of the fatwa Earth Hour has failed to create genuine awareness of our responsibility to conserve energy or to find alternate renewable sources.
Two days after we marked Earth Hour (March 26) came news that the government planned to conserve energy by reintroducing the two-day holiday and the stupid advancement of Pakistan Standard Time. The clock advancement is an unpopular mode of energy saving but for some reason people in government believe it works.
We do not need to save existing energy supply, we need to generate more. We also need to conserve energy from non-renewable sources such as gas and fuel and go for things like wind generation and other renewable sources.
Certainly work is being done in this context. Last week, at an energy exhibition in the city, the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) announced this year Pakistan expects to fund six wind, two biogas, one hydro and one solar energy power project in the private sector. This will generate 325 megawatts which will be supplied through the national grid.
Energy supply will increase but will it end the reason for power theft? Since the projects are in private sector they, like the KESC set up, will look at energy supply from the commercial point of view, that is, how much money they can make from power supply. These are not turn-key projects. Thus power which ought to be a facility will be a commercial commodity and the consumers will suffer from inflated bills and resort to power theft.