Pakistan starts Daylight Saving Time April 15, 2009

Pakistan starts daylight saving time (DST) on Wednesday, April 15, 2009,
to alleviate the nation’s power shortages. The proposed daylight saving date
already changed twice before the final decision on the date was made. The
daylight saving arrangement has already met criticism from locals and
businesses, and many anticipate that it will disrupt their daily lives.

The cabinet finally approved for Pakistan’s clocks to move one hour
forward at midnight (00:00) between April 14 and April 15 when the nation
will be six hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC +6 hours).
Pakistan’s Ministry of Water and Power anticipates that daylight saving time
would help the country save electricity and reduce load shedding.

Citizens Dreading DST

The Ministry of Water and Power originally proposed for the country’s
2009 daylight saving schedule to start on April 1. The daylight saving
schedule was then delayed due to weather conditions. Early in April, May 1
was proposed as another date to start DST. But when the final decision was
made to push the daylight saving date forward to April 15, the proposal met
resistance in the public.

Many people are against the government’s daylight saving schedule for
2009. There are calls for the government to ensure that confusion is
minimized on the time changes and for the government to push for transport
providers to have accurate time schedules. Many also believed, from
previous experience of DST, that many transport providers, including
railways and airlines, were apathetic to the changes and often forgot to
inform passengers about the new time schedules.

Moreover, many people claim that they will need to change their sleeping
habits and lifestyle. They also believe that there is no certainty that
household electricity usage would reduce during the daylight saving period.
Another point that was brought up was that the literacy rate was low in
rural areas and more than half of the nation’s population still resided in
villages. Traders in Pakistan expressed that they were not ready to close
their shops at sunset.

Pakistan’s Power Deficit

Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) (cited in Sify News, March 21,
2009), suggested that the federal government advance the clocks on April 1,
2009, to cope with the country’s power deficit. Later, the Ministry of Water
and Power planned for the daylight saving schedule to start on May 1. The
cabinet accepted April 15 as the date to change the clocks. It is
anticipated that a government awareness campaign on daylight energy
conservation would be launched as well.

Power is being suspended for up to eight hours during the day, adding to
businesses’ and communities’ frustration. Moreover, Pakistan’s power demand
is set to increase over the next few years, particularly during the nation’s
summer peak period.

Businesses and community groups who are pushing for daylight saving time
hope that the extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon, through daylight
saving time, could help save energy across the nation. People can then rely
on natural sunlight instead of depending on artificial lighting during the
later part of the day.

However, not everyone agreed that daylight saving time was the solution
to Pakistan’s energy crisis. Some people have expressed in the recent past
that daylight saving time was problematic to daily life. For example, some
workers complained about preparing their work in the dark, while parents
complained that electricity was shut down during the early morning hours,
which was when they prepared for their children to go to school during the
daylight saving schedule.

Results from Daylight Saving Time 2008

In 2008 Pakistan’s Federal Cabinet approved for daylight saving time to
occur from June 1 to October 31 to alleviate power shortages and reduce the
amount of forced load shedding. Load shedding refers to the process by which
an electric utility cuts power to some customers in response to a shortage
of available electricity.

According to a government source from the Ministry of Water and Power,
the 2008 daylight saving measure saw an energy saving that lasted for five
months. The amount of energy that was saved enabled PEPCO to reduce the load
shedding in certain areas by one to two hours on a daily basis (on the
average). However, a local newspaper recently claimed that the company did
not save much electricity during that period.

Pakistan’s Time Zone

Pakistan is on UTC +5 hours during the non-daylight saving period and
moves the clocks one hour forward to UTC +6 hours during the daylight saving
period. These are the hours that have been set for Pakistan’s daylight
saving arrangement in previous years.

Pakistan’s clocks will move one hour forward at midnight (00:00) between
April 14 and April 15, then probably shift one hour back at midnight (00:00)
between October 31 and November 1 in 2009.