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.Â
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. The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan
