Many suggestions are being floated by the government and the public to curtail the use of electricity to meet the energy shortfall. The installed capacity of power generation in the country, if made to operate to its full capacity, will not only meet all our power requirements but may also produce somewhat surplus to our needs. Surprisingly, no one has come up with yet another suggestion that could help tremendously in this matter. According to the Pakistan Press Reference data, there are more than 3.5 million television sets in the country, each of them consuming about 200 watts per hour. The total power consumed by them is approximately 700 MW. I think that if cable transmissions are restricted from 6:00 pm to 9.30 pm, like in the good old 1960s, 700 MW of power would be available for industry and agriculture for most of the day and night. But who will do this? The mighty media, minting millions by the second, will bury any such voice raised in this context.
AHTESHAM,
Karachi, December 27.