Power cuts worsen amid searing heat

The government continues to struggle to meet electricity demand amid a sweltering heatwave, with rural Bangladesh suffering frequent and lengthy outages as power generation remains under strain due to fuel shortages.

Bangladesh’s power system largely depends on imported gas, coal, and furnace oil, supplies of which have fallen since the US-Israel war on Iran began.

Consumers in most rural areas reported seven to eight hours of power cuts a day, some up to 10 hours. People in urban areas, outside Dhaka, are experiencing two to three hours.

To reduce the disparity, the government decided to increase load shedding in urban areas as well, State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit told parliament yesterday.

As part of the initiative, 110 megawatts (MW) trial load shedding will be introduced in Dhaka, he added.

Officials said the shortfall may translate into one to two hours of power cuts in Dhaka city.

As per the Power Development Board’s forecasts, in Dhaka district, areas under the Rural Electrification Board (REB) were facing around 500MW of power cuts yesterday. However, no load shedding was forecast for Dhaka Power Distribution Company and Dhaka Electric Supply Company, the two distributors in the capital. REB supplies to 75 percent of total electricity consumers in the country.

Aninda said it was not right that urban residents would remain comfortable while rural people suffered. He added that a discrimination-free Bangladesh was the spirit of the July uprising.

“To eliminate this gap, we have decided to enforce load shedding in cities if necessary, so that farmers in villages can get adequate electricity for irrigation,” he said.

The decision was made on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s instruction upon consultation with opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman.

WORSENING POWER CUTS

Data showed the power situation has been deteriorating.

Yesterday, as of 8:00pm, the demand stood at 16,237MW while the production was 13,988MW, leaving a 2,249MW shortfall, PDB data showed. Outages continued throughout the day, with the highest load shedding recorded at 2,483MW around 7:00pm.

On Tuesday, daytime peak demand reached 15,500MW at noon, against a generation of 14,069MW, leaving a shortfall of 1,462MW, according to the PDB. The shortage exceeded 1,000MW almost every hour that day, peaking at 1,840MW at 9:00pm.

PDB mentioned that 72 out of 143 power plants had shortages of gas, coal, or furnace oil.

To manage the shortfall, the PDB had to increase power generation from costly furnace oil-based plants, said officials.

Furnace oil-based plants yesterday produced 3,000MW. They had been producing around 1,000MW for most of the time this month.

The situation worsened after one of the two units of India’s Adani power plant, with a combined capacity of 1,435MW, went offline due to technical issues. Besides, imports from India, except Adani, also decreased to 800MW from 1,100MW yesterday.

Three of Bangladesh’s eight coal-fired plants are also running below capacity: SS Power (1,224MW) in Chattogram and RNPL (1,320MW) in Patuakhali due to coal shortages and Barapukuria due to mechanical issues.

Power Division Joint Secretary Umme Rehana said generation is expected to improve once these plants resume full operation. The Adani unit is expected to resume operation by April 26, SS Power by April 28, and RNPL by early May, according to her.

“We expect an increase of around 1,982MW in generation from coal-fired plants from the first week of May,” she said at a briefing at the Secretariat.

Even then, total generation may reach 17,000MW against a projected summer demand of 18,500MW.

Meanwhile, the government plans to reopen the Ashuganj fertiliser factory on May 1, diverting around 50 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas from power plants.

Currently, gas-fired plants receive about 900MMcf/d, producing up to 5,400MW.

A drop to 850MMcf/d could reduce output by 400MW, according to officials.

Although installed capacity in gas-fired plants is 12,154MW, nearly 60 percent may remain unused this summer due to shortfalls in domestic production and reduced imports.

“We need around 2,000MMcf/d of gas to run the plants at capacity, but the Energy Division cannot supply that volume as gas also goes to industries and fertiliser production,” Rehana said.

Acknowledging public suffering, State Minister Aninda said the crisis is not a short-term issue but the result of accumulated problems.

“Despite higher installed capacity on paper, there remains a mismatch with actual generation,” he told parliament.

He said gas demand is 3,800MMcf/d, while domestic production is 1,616MMcf/d and 950MMcf/d comes from imports, leaving a shortfall of 1,164MMcf/d.

“Even if we had the financial capacity, it is not possible to increase imports immediately due to infrastructure limitations,” he said, adding that expanding energy infrastructure is among the government’s priorities under its 180-day action plan.

VILLAGES BEAR THE BRUNT

Across districts, prolonged outages continued to disrupt daily life, farming, and healthcare.

In Noakhali, consumers reported up to seven to eight hours of load shedding daily.

“In 24 hours, we don’t get more than five to six hours of electricity. Once it comes, it stays only 30–40 minutes,” said Poli Akhter, a homemaker from Chatkhil. “We can’t store food properly, and even IPS batteries don’t get charged.”

Farmers and students are among the worst affected.

“SSC examinees are suffering the most,” said Abu Sayeed Ratan, a schoolteacher from Mymensingh.

In Khulna’s Batiaghata, shrimp farmer Prosad Roy said outages of four to seven hours daily are affecting production. “Even an hour’s outage can kill shrimp. Running generators is too costly,” he said.

Similar accounts came from Rajshahi and Cumilla, where residents reported sleepless nights, disrupted studies, and harvesting problems.

[Our correspondents in respective districts contributed to the report]