RAWALPINDI, May 6: As the energy crisis deepens and power utilities resort to load-shedding all over the country, the government’s energy conservation plans – part of its 100-day relief programme – are yet to take off.

While it appears to be difficult to take energy conservation measures in industries, the plan to provide 10 million energy-saver bulbs may also prove to be an uphill task because of the limited production capacity of the local industry.

Sources told Dawn that the federal government was likely to grant a one-time duty exemption on the import of energy-saver bulbs and compact fluorescent lamps. The Federal Board of Revenue is likely to send a proposal in this regard to the federal cabinet for approval.

A meeting, chaired by federal Minister for Environment Hameedullah Jan Afridi, was held to review the status of implementation of various policies about energy conservation.

However, it is not known if the exemption would be given in the budget for 2008-09 or before that.

In his first policy statement in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had tasked Pepco to scale down load-shedding. But contrary to prime minister’s instructions, the duration of load-shedding has increased, affecting not only the public life but also the national economy.

According to estimates of the National Energy Conservation Centre (Enercon), the country has the potential to save 20 to 30 per cent of energy without much cost.

The conservation centre has been mandated as a focal federal agency for initiating, catalysing and coordinating all energy conservation activities.

The meeting was informed that the Engineering Development Board (EDB) was planning to introduce locally-produced energy-efficient water heaters and geysers by the end of June. A pilot project was expected to replace existing geysers or their retrofits. As part of the strategy, the government is likely to ban the import of old boilers, which waste a huge amount of energy.

The environment ministry has decided to launch a public awareness campaign to introduce the geysers.

The environment ministry has proposed to provincial governments and development authorities to designate energy managers for efficiency considerations in all industrial, commercial, government and community buildings and public sector transport and fleets.

It was also decided to declare provincial environmental departments as focal points for energy conservation activities.

The petroleum ministry termed the transmission and distribution losses a ground reality and unavoidable and said that gas companies could not eliminate theft.

Though the government had set a target to reduce the losses from 7 per cent to 4 per cent by September 2009, the ministry’s officials said that even the 6 per cent target fixed by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority was not possible to meet.