A large part of Dhaka city was plunged into darkness Sunday night following a sudden power grid failure at the Rampura substation. The blackout, which began around 9:45 pm, affected areas including Gulshan, Mirpur, Rampura, Khilgaon, Moghbazar, Kakrail, Kathalbagan, Hatirpool, Mohakhali, Ramna, Banani, and Banasree.
According to officials at the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the outage was caused by a technical fault in a busbar at the Rampura 230/132 kV grid substation, one of the city’s key transmission points.
The incident led to an abrupt shortfall of about 270 megawatts, nearly one-fourth of the total supply under Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO).
Describing the Rampura power substation as a critical point of power supply, Zulfiquar Tahmid, Director (Operations) at DESCO, said: When a major component like the busbar fails, the impact spreads rapidly through the network.
Power restoration efforts began shortly after 11 pm, with engineers rerouting electricity through alternate transmission lines while simultaneously working to repair the damaged infrastructure.
By 11:45 pm, PGCB confirmed that the fault had been resolved and electricity began returning gradually to affected zones. Full restoration was achieved by 12:30 am, officials said.
Sources at DESCO said that hospitals and emergency installations were given priority during the initial phase of power restoration. The field teams coordinated closely with PGCB and moved quickly once the fault was isolated.
A PGCB spokesperson described the incident as an “unanticipated disruption,” adding that while the situation is now under control, further investigation is underway to determine what caused the busbar to fail without warning.
The power situation across Dhaka is currently normal, with no further issues reported.