Saving our power sector from dying by a thousand cuts.

Byline: DR. SHAHID RAHIM

"Not in his goals but in his transitions the man is great." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

According to media reports, our prime minister is angry because his plan for energy conservation, launched with high hopes recently, has not been delivering the expected results. He should not lose heart as nothing was wrong either with his intent or the potential of energy savings in the targeted activities. He had unfortunately pinned hope on an institutional system that is capable of frustrating even the best intents and plans.

Our institutions, whether in the power sector, oil and gas sector, or any other sector of the economy, have become mostly dysfunctional. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they have turned into graveyards of creativity, imagination, innovation, and even initiative. Conformity to the system is the name of the game and passing the buck is not an exception, but the rule.

If our prime minister really wants results from any reforms in the power sector, he must first fix its institutions: their structure, their executive leadership, their management, their organizational processes, their operating procedures, and their culture. In simple words, the power sector needs a systemic overhaul. This is indeed a tough call and will not be politically expedient, but without such a surgery, as painful as it may be, we cannot save this sector that is bleeding all over and dying by a thousand cuts.

Let's be clear. We are not suggesting that the government should stop or reverse the power sector reform process that has already been set into motion. We are only suggesting that it should ensure that the enabling conditions and supportive institutional capacity essential for the success of these reforms is provided on the ground.

Reform-friendly institutional structure and capacity

Most experts now agree that the decisive factor for the success of any effort for structural reform in the power sector is the enabling conditions on ground, and the most important among these is having reform-friendly institutional structure and capacity. If not, then any effort for reform, to conserve energy or any other, will remain just a wish. We should not expect to conserve water in a vessel that has no lid and has holes all around its body.

It's difficult to specify all the improvements required in the institutional structure and capacity in the power sector in a short article like this. Nevertheless, it suggests a few that, in this writer's view, are critical for the above purpose. But let's first have a little background to bring these suggestions in perspective.

We live in a world in which change is the only constant. As individuals, communities, institutions, or business enterprises, we are under constant stress to adapt...