“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.”

And if you want to find the secrets of politics in Pakistan, think in terms of power grids.

Every government that rises to power promises the same thing: affordable energy and uninterrupted supply, a pledge of “relief” for the people. And yet decades later, what we have is neither power nor people empowered. What we have is only a cycle of subsidies and swelling debt.

Pakistan’s electricity crisis has been generationally inherited, continues to compound, and has been repeatedly postponed. The core of it lies in what economists call circular debt, a chain of unpaid bills within the energy sector that moves in circles without resolution. Power Distribution Companies (DISCOs) collect less than they charge, the government pays them subsidies to cover the gap, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are paid late or not at all, and the shortfall rolls into the next fiscal year. 

As of 2026, Pakistan’s circular debt stands at over PKR 1.889 trillion. A debt that has increased by nearly PKR 200 billion in the first two months of 2026 alone. That aggregate statistic is representative of misgovernance and the cumulative cost of populist decisions stretched over decades. Every administration since the 1990s has promised to “end load-shedding” without attempting to address the economics that cause it.

Understand that when electricity is underpriced for political reasons, somebody must absorb the loss. In Pakistan, that “somebody” is always the public, just in a different form. Whether it is higher inflation, currency depreciation, or IMF conditionalities masquerading around as reform, one thing is clear. What citizens save on their electricity bills, they pay through the cost of living.

Populism by the Kilowatt

At its core, Pakistan’s electricity subsidy system is a classic case of energy populism. Governments equate cheap power with public empathy as if affordability itself were an achievement of governance. Consider the political cycle itself. In election years, power tariffs are frozen, load-shedding schedules are........

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