Power to the masses

Ah..modern life..such comforts it afford to those with the means and capabilities to afford it..
Haha..it's just a thought..
Anyway, power to the masses..isn't this what the government of any self-respecting country should try to achieve? Ideals, ideals..well, be it electrical power or political power, i feel that citizens should have all those..especially if the country is trying to set itself up as a moderate democratic country who puts the people's welfare somewhere high up the priority list..
Nevertheless, despite all the boo-hah that the mouthpieces of the echelons of power spew out regularly, we see no such thing..in fact, there is a gradual degradation of power that citizens are afforded..look at the article 11 forum that was forced to stop their discussion about democratic issues by a lynch mob twice the number the size of the participants while the police looked on and, omg, even requested the organizers to withdraw..or at the "transparent" city council of pj, where the decision to go ahead to celebrate the city's new-found status as a city at the cost of 7+ million was made unilaterally (ok, they reduced it to 6+ million recently, but only after the whole country were hounding them..fyi, the city council were complaining recently that they didn't have enough revenue to run the city so they decided to raise taxes..and look what they are doing now..btw, the mace to be presented to the mayor is at least 60 times the price of the attire the sultans are wearing)
Anyway, back to the issue..how can the government justify increasing the power tariffs by an average of 12%? Phenomenal..yes, there is a lot of ballyhoo of how the government is protecting the citizens who are from the lower income section by limiting the increase in tariffs by households who use less than 200kWh..whatever..all these are just sweet talk..the government shouldn't have even raised the tariffs in the first place, protecting the citizens or not..want to hear some funny things? Just before the tariffs were raised, tnb was blasted in the parliament due to the extremely high loss in electricity (ie, due to faulty transmission, theft by certain quarters, equipment breakdown etc). On the other hand, tnb is justifying this action because it cannot afford to maintain the old tariffs in the face of rising fuel prices, increasing operating costs, lack of revenue etc. Same old same old..But you know what? tnb posted a net profit of 400mil last year..furthermore, this same company is losing lots of money, but not from any of those reasons..they happily signed contracts (giving out should be more appropriate, but..the former is politically correct) that stipulated that tnb has to purchase rm4billion worth of electricity from independent power producers (IPPs). I forget whether is it per year or on the whole of a few years..nevertheless, such things are trivial..after all, many power companies buy power from other sources to meet the demands of everyday usage..however, what is infuriating is that tnb doesn't need that power..in fact, over 40% of the power capacity that tnb has is wasted since supply outstrips demand..(in econs classes students would learn that in such a case, prices of commodities or services involved would drop..but then again reality is so different)..put 2 and 2 together..you get what they call as "little napoleons" or what others might refer to as "tyranny" or "oppression of the weak"..after all, no one else is allowed to supply power in this country(IPPs supply the power directly to tnb and due to the above-mentioned contracts, are indirectly part of this monopoly..)
So is this another part of the slippery slope leading to the dismantling of what we have achieved since independence? Or would it serve as a catalyst for us to talk, and more importantly, that this talk would finally be heard and acted upon, efficiently?
Who knows..only time will tell..
Whether it is a sunset
or sunrise