Intermittent power outages despite substantial drop in the electricity demand together with the new austerity instruction issued on Monday underscore the country鈥檚 declining energy capacity.
Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan urged all three ministries under his command鈥攑ower, energy and mineral resources; roads and bridges; and railways鈥攖o avoid using air conditioners as much as possible during the winter season extended between November 2024 and February 2025.
The new austerity measure call came in an official letter with the hope of increasing energy supply to irrigation pumps, fertiliser production and industries.
A persistent financial crisis has severely affected its imports of energy and power and greatly shrunk the country鈥檚 power generation capacity.
Several major power plants are now either entirely out of operation or running at reduced capacity due to energy crisis and outstanding dues.
The result has been reflected in persistent power outages even when the power demand has dropped to about 10,000MW, over 6,000MW less than the peak demand recorded this summer.
鈥楾here are pockets of load shedding which are expected to go away when winter sets in,鈥� said Power Development Board member Khandaker Mokammel Hossain.
鈥楾he austerity measure will help a lot in this crisis situation,鈥� he said.
The power demand is likely to remain 10,000MW in a part of winter days, particularly given the global warming. Winter became relatively warmer, particularly in cities and towns with deforested landscapes.
Bangladesh鈥檚 peak cooling demand is estimated at 5,000MW when temperature stays around 40C. During the last peak summer, the electricity demand was 16,477MW.
Gas is the cheapest source of energy for power generation in Bangladesh鈥檚 fossil fuel dominated energy mix. The government鈥檚 capacity to use gas-based power plants significantly reduced over the years because of the dollar crisis.
The average power production using gas remained听 around 5,000MW lately against the gas-based generation capacity of over 12,000MW.听
Last fiscal, Bangladesh imported about 30 cargoes of liquefied natural gas from the spot market in addition to the 56 cargoes of LNG received under long-term contacts.
The supply was about 20 cargoes short of the supply needed to keep the gas supply at 2,900 mmcfd against the demand of 4,000mmcfd. The gas supply over the last fiscal dropped to 2,200mmcfd when the LNG import dropped thanks to the financial crisis.
On Monday, data released by the state-owned oil company Petrobangla showed that the gas supply stood at 2,862.4mmcfd with 891mmcfd of LNG supply, the highest supply in about half a year.
Bangladesh鈥檚 average LNG import is less than 600mmcfd with its current outstanding gas import bill is around $150 million.
Gas is about four times cheaper than oil in terms of producing a unit of electricity. Bangladesh is often forced to run furnace-oil-based power plants.
The Bangladesh Power Development Board owed Tk 44,338 crore to power producers at the end of the last fiscal, as the national power company could clear only half of its dues to power producing companies.
While the payment rate was more than 62 per cent with private companies, overseas companies received 57 per cent of their dues, followed by public companies getting paid only 24 per cent of their outstanding bills.
The Jharkhand-based 1,496MW Adani power plant has been supplying about 1,000MW because of non-payment of its dues. The other sources of power from India also reduced their supply because of outstanding payment.
Coal shortages forced the 1,150MW Matarbari power plant to go completely out of operation. The 1,234MW Rampal power plant was operating at half capacity due to a lack of coal supply.
The 307MW coal-fired Barisal power plant was under maintenance.
Fuel shortages have led 22 plants to generate partial power or to completely shut down.
During the 15-year rule of now ousted Sheikh Hasina as the prime minister, Bangladesh was steered on the path of aggressive expansion of fossil fuels, leading to the building of around 100 power plants, almost all of which were built without competitive bidding.
The power purchase deals were awarded under the supervision of then head of the government Sheikh Hasina, often through one-to-one negotiation between then state minister for power and energy Nasrul Hamid and the companies.
The business of power production turned out to be an investment without risk. The capacity charge that invariably came with the power deals allowed power investors handsome return regardless of the electricity they produced.
In 14 years since assuming power in 2009, the Awami League government paid total Tk 1.04 lakh crore in capacity charges, according to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
After the Hasina government was toppled in August, the interim government, led by nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, is struggling to cope with the burden left behind by the previous government.
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People crowd a TCB sales centre to procure essential food items at a lower price at Ashrafabad in Kamrangirchar area of the capital on Monday. 鈥� Md Saurav
