Pakistan’s electricity crisis is often blamed on fuel prices or circular debt, but the regulator’s own assessment points to a deeper cause: the grid itself is the bottleneck. Recent findings expose structural failures in the transmission system that directly raise power costs and weaken reliability. Many high-voltage lines and transformers are operating near or above capacity. Overloading increases technical losses and heightens the risk of breakdowns. More importantly, it prevents cheaper electricity from reaching demand centres. When the grid cannot carry affordable power, the system is forced to rely on more expensive generation and consumers ultimately pay the price.
Major transmission projects, built at huge public cost, remain underutilised due to delays in supporting infrastructure. This is not a shortage of investment but a failure of planning and execution. Transmission constraints disrupt the merit order, causing expensive power to be dispatched while cheaper generation is curtailed. This distortion inflates tariffs and undermines the basic economics of the sector. What this means is clear: tariff hikes alone cannot solve the power crisis. Charging consumers more while allowing grid failures to persist is neither fair nor sustainable. Modernising the grid, enforcing project timelines and improving oversight are essential for affordable electricity.
Majid Burfat
Karachi
