Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1933

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering.

This study describes the dynamics of supply and demand, price and pilferage, and resources and need of electricity conservation in the Domestic sector of Pakistan and illustrates the importance of feedback structure in a policy analysis model for that purpose. Development of model structure, int~grating different sectors of the system through information links, for conservation, is then explained. Model building, based the dynamic hypothesis is described and the former is validated. Then explanation of system behaviour, through model simulation, is given. The system dynamics treatment of the feedback loops is contrasted with the treatment found in most electric utilities of the world, in general and of Pakistan in particular. The study also illustrates the importance of the flexibility, of the technique used, in the policy design. The study provides many insights, e.g. pricing policies are not the cause of the problem, increase in income level might not alleviate pilferage of electricity, conservation is possible with specific incentives, and resource allocation needs special attention.