Electricity load-shedding in Pakistan: Unintended consequences, opportunities and policy recommendations

Abstract

Over the last decade, supply-side constraints have resulted in widespread electricity shortage in Pakistan. At its peak, this amounted to over a 7 GW supply-demand gap and caused the electricity grid to be offline for vast swathes of population for many hours daily. Despite major supply-side investments acute shortages persist and a large percentage of relatively affluent households, estimated in millions, have countered this by investing in self-generation and battery storage technologies (usually lead-acid batteries because of their low cost). This paper summarizes the impact of this backup technology on the broader energy system in terms of efficiency losses for households and contribution to low-voltage grid congestion. Research findings suggest that the low efficiency of these backup systems has caused annual losses of around 3-4 TWh for the electric grid in Pakistan as well as overloading of transformers and frequent supply-demand imbalances. However, the mass adoption of these backup systems has also created an entire ecosystem which can enable massive demand side management and provide the framework for a future smart grid in Pakistan. Besides evaluating the opportunities, possible policy measures the government should undertake to enable this transition are also discussed.

Determinants of Consumers’ Intentions towards the Purchase of Energy Efficient Appliances in Pakistan: An Extended Model of the Theory of Planned Behavior

“…The increase in energy demand is due to a continuous increase in the number of consumers, specifically, the householdconsumers increased from 19,323 million in 2015 to 21,991 million in 2017. In addition, the household sector in developing countries such as Pakistan nearly accounts for half of the total energy consumption and is expected to rise further in the future [16]. The increasing energy demand and required investment to meet this demand intensifies the necessity of improving the energy efficiency on the distribution side, particularly on the consumers' end.…”

Implementation of Smart Grid Technologies in Pakistan under CPEC Project: Technical and Policy Implications

“…The execution of DR will enable authorities to slow the pace of investment in power generation as significant investments are needed in the transmission and distribution network of a country. The study conducted in [55] laid stress on the investment in DSM (demand reduction + DR) in Pakistan by recommending the use of efficient devices and controllers to meet flexible loads. In addition, they also encouraged users to have backup energy module like a solar panel to be installed within their homes which provides more flexibility for a grid to meet load requirements [55].…”

“…The study conducted in [55] laid stress on the investment in DSM (demand reduction + DR) in Pakistan by recommending the use of efficient devices and controllers to meet flexible loads. In addition, they also encouraged users to have backup energy module like a solar panel to be installed within their homes which provides more flexibility for a grid to meet load requirements [55]. The DR is entirely reliant upon drafted incentives.…”

Holistic and Scientific Perspectives of Energy Sector in Pakistan: Progression, Challenges and Opportunities

“…Additionally, NEPRA has approved nine distribution licenses to SPPs and one to CPP, to supply electricity to designated bulk power customers [43]. The existing transmission and distribution networks suffer from voltage fluctuation, low voltage on the consumer side, and household efficiency losses due to improper management, delayed maintenance, use of inefficient power components, etc [97] [13].…”

“…Meanwhile, the electricity sector of Pakistan has started to fall into an economic crisis, and eventually, the gap between supply and demand is still in a range between 2000 to 3000M W [10] [11]. This gap has been affecting the consumers by intentionally disconnecting their loads from supply load shedding to maintain the energy balance, which has become a common problem [12] [13] these days all over the country. The major reasons behind the deficiency of electricity sectors are; inadequate installed generation capacity, obsolete power plants, incapable transmission and distribution systems, outdated infrastructure and poor financial management [14] [15].…”