Staff Reporter:

Amid the intense heat of mid-Baishakh, public life across the country is becoming increasingly unbearable. Naturally, the demand for electricity has risen in an attempt to find relief during the summer.

However, due to an insufficient supply of electricity, people in different areas are facing hardships during parts of the day. Business activities are also being affected by the situation.

An analysis of electricity production and demand data from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) shows that last Saturday, the peak demand was 15,784 megawatts, while the supply was 15,645 megawatts.

This resulted in a shortfall of 139 megawatts at the substation level. Officials noted that due to wastage and system loss, the amount of load shedding at the consumer level is even higher.

However, this year’s load shedding is not as severe as last year’s; in April last year, the shortfall on several days neared 1,000 megawatts.

Meanwhile, as the heat intensifies, concerns are rising that load shedding will worsen. Last Saturday, due to a lack of electricity supply, the metro rail service in Dhaka was halted for nearly an hour.

To address the shortage, BPDB has been reducing gas supply to industries and increasing it to power plants. Despite these efforts, sufficient electricity production has not been achieved. So far, the highest electricity generation in the country was recorded on April 30 last year — 16,477 megawatts.

According to projections by the power division, demand could reach up to 18,000 megawatts. However, given the ongoing financial and energy crises, achieving that level of production is now very difficult. As a result, officials believe that load shedding will increase in the coming days.

Explaining the situation, Muhammad Fawzul Kabir Khan, Advisor to the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources, stated at a press briefing at the Secretariat that the gap between the demand and supply of fuel for electricity production has arisen due to previous policy and planning errors.

The financial crisis has led to an energy shortage, which in turn has caused a production shortfall. The interim government has reduced wastage and is controlling expenses. It has also cleared a significant portion of outstanding payments to foreign companies. He expressed hope that the situation would stabilize further.

However, experts believe that if production is increased through heavy subsidies and spending, it would strain the macroeconomy, making it difficult to manage. Therefore, an immediate end to load shedding is unlikely.

He further said that currently, 16,500 megawatts of electricity are being produced. Due to the rising temperatures, demand may increase up to 18,000 megawatts. At that time, production from oil-based plants will be increased.

Efforts will be made to keep load shedding at a tolerable level, and it will be distributed equally between urban and rural areas.

MORE THAN HALF OF THE POWER PLANTS REMAIN IDLE

There are currently 71 gas-based power plants in the country, with a combined installed capacity of 12,333 megawatts. To utilize the full capacity of these plants, about 2,420 million cubic feet of gas is needed daily.

However, due to the energy crisis, it is not possible to operate all plants. BPDB requires at least 1,400 million cubic feet of gas daily to run its fuel-based plants. But Petrobangla is supplying only about 900 million cubic feet of gas per day on average.

As a result, BPDB has to ration gas among the gas-based plants for electricity production, leaving some plants idle. Consequently, more than half of the total capacity remains unused.

Additionally, to maintain a stable power situation during the summer, about 150,000 tons of furnace oil and 15,000–16,000 tons of diesel are needed. The daily coal demand stands at 40,000 tons. Including imported electricity, the country’s total installed power generation capacity is about 26,900 megawatts.