Has Pakistan found a plan to turn its power liabilities into strategic assets?

Once crippled by chronic power deficits, Pakistan now confronts an ironic twist: excess electricity generation alongside persistent blackouts and spiraling circular debt. While blackouts persist nationwide, especially during peak summer months, Pakistan has significant excess generation capacity compared to what it can currently consume.

This translates into the exacerbation of the government’s financial burden to  the mandatory capacity payments to power producers—payments based on installed generation capacity rather than actual consumption. Current plans to retire Rs1.5 trillion in circular debt through bank consortiums and budget allocations treat the symptom rather than addressing the underlying problem of excess capacity that created this financial quagmire. 

In response, the government and the newly formed Pakistan Crypto Council are exploring an innovative approach: using surplus electricity to develop a blockchain industry and attract foreign investment—a proposal that warrants careful scrutiny regarding its practicality, sustainability, and whether it represents a strategic use of this valuable yet paradoxically abundant resource.