Pakistan, Sept. 18 -- In Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, Parvin Akter times her cooking to the neighborhood's availability of piped gas. With gas in intermittent supply as a result of a global energy crunch, she now sometimes has to wait until midnight to cook her dinner.

Even switching to an induction cooker has not helped, as power outages often leave food half-cooked. More than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) away on the other side of South Asia, in Pakistan, the government has started a fuel subsidy that went into effect on Wednesday to ease the sharp rise in fuel prices.

Vehicle owners have to register for the subsidy, however, and the programme is not working smoothly. Mohammad Musharraf, a resident of Karachi, says he has spent days try...