Pakistan, Oct. 6 -- Each billing cycle now arrives like an indictment, a monthly reminder that the ordinary citizen must pay for the extraordinary failures of those meant to regulate.

The latest episode - a Rs215 million hit to consumers - reveals yet again how regulatory complacency and contractual negligence quietly conspire against public interest. Beneath the jargon of "fuel cost adjustments" and "market volatility" lies a simple truth: Pakistan's energy regulators have allowed private defaults to become public debt.

The case centres on a Punjab-based coal power plant that found itself stranded last December when its long-term coal supplier defaulted on deliveries. The agreement, once celebrated for securing a $2.51 per tonne discou...