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The power sector of Pakistan has undergone a substantial, yet protracted power sector reform program in 1992. Under this program, the government allowed participation of Independent Power Producers (IPPs), followed by the breakup of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) into various entities and the establishment of power sector regulatory authority, namely NEPRA in 1997. The power sector reforms in Pakistan have not been evaluated sufficiently to determine the actual costs and benefits incurred by different segments of the society, to correct the path of upcoming reforms. This study attempts to investigate the socio-economic impacts of restructuring of WAPDA's generation segment and private sector participation in the electricity generation sector of Pakistan by using a social cost-benefit analysis approach. The study has analyzed the impacts of reforms on government, private sector, and consumers (domestic, commercial, industrial and agriculture) of the power sector. The results have shown that the main benefit of private sector participation came from the timely expansion of generation capacity. However, environmental and electricity generation costs became exorbitant after power sector reforms. Consumers and government remained net losers, while IPPs were winners in the process of restructuring and privatization. This paper concludes that power generation sector reforms with private sector participation have impacted the overall social welfare adversely. It further concludes that had regulation been scrupulous with adequate supportive role of government with social obligations, consumers and government could have benefited from restructuring and privatization of the power sector generation sector in Pakistan. • Power sector of Pakistan is going through reforms. • Reforms need to evaluate its costs and benefits. • Social cost-benefit analysis utilized. • Private sector gained from the reforms and social costs were higher. • Need for a better structure for the future reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crisis in electricity generation sector of Pakistan is causing load shedding. All sectors including household-domestic, commercial and industrial activities get severely affected by such power outages which could be minimized by adopting modern technologies such as solar PV. The use of solar PV system in many countries has become a promising solution to meet energy needs but in Pakistan its usage at household level still remains largely untapped despite huge potential. This study identifies the determinants that influence the household's decisions regarding solar PV adoption in Lahore, Pakistan. For this, initially, a generic list of significant determinants was extracted from literature. Later, detailed interviews (based on persuasion attributes of Roger's theory of Innovation Diffusion) of both adopters and non-adopters of solar PV system were conducted at household level to rank the determinants on the basis of their significance in solar PV adoption decision. The household's adoption of solar PV system faced many barriers regardless of the fact that it exceeds in advantages as compared to other conventional sources of electricity. The cost of solar PV system appeared to be the most significant barrier in the diffusion of solar PV system. Additionally, the absence of adequate financial support by government for the installation of small solar PV systems at household level further intensified the adoption decisions. Other important barriers included difficulty of using all appliances at the same time and shortage of reliable vendors as well the technicians. While, environment friendly feature of solar PV system along with its availability in local market appeared as significant driver of diffusion at household level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]