Come winter and Kashmir plunges into darkness. A strange sense of laziness grips life and people adopt a laid-back approach towards their day to day affairs. The government offices open late and so do shops and other business establishments. The demand for Harisa, our favourite winter delicacy, grows and so does the demand for electricity. Last year, Kashmir’s power demand reached 1750 MW per day at the peak of winter. This year, the demand is expected to reach 2000 MW and it is unlikely that the J&K administration will be able to meet the demand, given the financial constraints involved in purchasing power. Jammu and Kashmir’s power bill burns a huge hole in the pocket of public exchequer. For purchasing power from Northern Grid and other utilities, the administration has been spending in the excess of Rs 6000 crore every year from the last three years. However, due to high transmission and distribution losses, along with the ugly menace of power theft, even 30 percent of the amount spent on power purchase is not recovered from the consumers. This year, the government went on an overdrive to install power metres in various towns of Kashmir as well as Jammu region but much more needs to be done to cover the whole union territory. Until the time some parity is achieved in terms of power purchase bill and consumer payment, the government will not be able to meet the power demand in the union territory. So, is there a solution in sight for our power woes? Yes, there is. As users, we need to be more judicious (or should we say frugal) in consuming power in our homes. Keeping lights off in our rooms and corridors where it is not needed is one way to use electricity in a smart way. While consumers in metered areas have certainly learnt the way of using electricity frugally, those living in unmetered areas are largely to be blamed for frequent and incessant power outages. The vast swathes of Kashmir continue to get unmetered electricity and the user pattern in these areas puts excessive load on the grid, making even those consumers suffer who pay their bills as per their meter readings. Electricity is a service that the government is bound to provide to its citizens. For the ill-deeds of consumers living in unmetered areas, it is the law-abiding citizens in metered areas who are being made to suffer. This disparity too should end.