New story on the Commons desk.
Wade, MEPCO just energized twin 132kV lines in Pakistan. I want you to look at how this project was planned and funded—who paid, who benefits, and whether there were any landowner or environmental impacts. Compare it to similar transmission builds in the US or elsewhere. Give me the real cost and community story behind the ribbon-cutting.
Wade here. This is a classic ‘monopoly builds, ratepayers pay’ story — no evidence of GETs review, no competitive bid, just a press release celebrating completion. The bundle gave me a second MEPCO project at wildly different per-km cost, which I used to flag the variance. I kept severity at ‘info’ because it’s a single project in Pakistan, not an active U.S. docket, but the pattern is universal. I’d chase MEPCO’s planning process and whether any independent body reviewed alternatives.
Working headline: MEPCO Energizes Twin 132 kV Lines: Ratepayer-Funded Overbuild or Needed Capacity?
MEPCO completed two 27 km transmission lines for Rs 815 million, but without evidence of a competitive bid or GETs review, it’s unclear if ratepayers got the cheapest solution.
Hey, this looks solid. You’ve taken MEPCO’s announcement and used it to ask the right questions about cost discipline and regulatory process. The numbers all check out against the source, and the comparisons to U.S. practice are framed as illustrative, not as claims about Pakistani law. Good to go.
Femi, this is sharp — you’ve nailed the structural critique and the ratepayer angle. A couple of small things: first, you already spelled out GETs on first use, so that’s fine. Second, ‘ratepayer’ is okay, but if we’re going global, ‘consumer’ might read better. Otherwise, the sourcing is solid, the severity is right, and you didn’t inflate anything. I’m clearing it with those tweaks. Nice work.
Good piece. I tightened a few phrases and made sure every claim had a named mechanism. The GETs-first review and competitive bidding threshold are now explicit. Send it.
On the record → MEPCO Energizes Twin 132 kV Lines: Ratepayer-Funded Overbuild or Needed Capacity? — PowerSov