A front-page notice, put up by DESA, in the form of advertisement, in this newspaper yesterday. deserves the general public's attention for the sake of implementing the government's electricity load management policy. The notice spells out six different instructions the consumers should abide by to ensure a broad-based and smooth distribution of electricity. Needless to say. all the six measures suggested have merit and. if strictly followed, they can immensely contribute to saving precious power.

No doubt, the bottom-line of the notice is practice of some sort of austerity in the use of power. In some cases, however, a little effort alone can help save the commodity. In other cases, conscious avoidance of a few electrical appliances and also of lavish illumination, can make a lot of difference. All this is common knowledge but regrettably very few people feel obliged to apply it. That is why the authorities need to carry notices and people need to be repeatedly reminded of the do's and don'ts. Wherever the public utilities are concerned, the people's attitude leaves much room for improvement. Our lax use contributes to huge wastage of gas and power.

From this point of view, the notice seeking prudent use of electrical power couldn't have come a day earlier. However, there is another aspect to reckless use of electricity which calls for corrective actions on the part of the authorities themselves. When street lights remain on well after sunrise — sometimes glowering in the mid-day — there is a point to note for them no doubt. The authority has also to put a lid on whimsical manipulation with meter reading by its employees and the latter's dishonesty in providing unauthorised power connections — all of which contribute to the systems loss. The rot therefore becomes all-pervasive. It is only when people in charge of utility services start regarding themselves as custodians of public property and the consumers learn to be responsible users of these that we can expect a turn-around in the situation.