Bhola is producing enough electricity to power far beyond its own needs, yet residents of the island district are spending hours without power every day.
Despite having nearly 450MW of generation capacity against a peak demand of only around 120MW, households and businesses continue to suffer frequent load-shedding.
The crisis has disrupted daily life and pushed many businesses dependent on uninterrupted power supply towards closure.
Unlike many parts of the country where gas shortages have forced power plants to reduce production, Bhola’s electricity plants have access to local gas supplies. However, the absence of a pipeline connecting the district’s gas fields to the national network means the gas cannot be transported elsewhere and must be used locally.
Despite this advantage, residents say they are not receiving adequate electricity from the plants operating in the district.
Local plants, national grid
The Bangladesh Power Development Board’s (BPDB) Bhola-1 gas-based power plant in South Kutuba of Borhanuddin has a generation capacity of around 225MW.
Another 220MW dual-fuel combined-cycle power plant, known as Nusrat, is also located in Borhanuddin. In addition, a 40MW rental power plant at Kheya Ghat remains shut after its contract expired. If the plant resumes operation, Bhola’s total generation capacity would rise to around 485MW.
The district’s six upazilas are supplied by the West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd (WZPDCL) and rural electricity cooperatives, serving more than five lakh customers.
WZPDCL’s daily demand ranges between 22MW and 30MW, while the rural electricity cooperative requires 70MW to 90MW.
Yet supply shortages continue.
Bhola Palli Bidyut Samity General Manager Shah Md Razzakur Rahman told TIMES of Bangladesh, “We are being forced to impose load-shedding as we are not receiving sufficient electricity from the national grid according to demand. At present, we have to maintain around 20 to 30 per cent load-shedding during both day and night.”
WZPDCL officials also said they do not receive electricity according to demand, forcing them to impose hours-long power cuts in both towns and villages.
Businesses count losses
The frequent outages have hit businesses hard, particularly those dependent on refrigeration and machinery.
Morshed Alam, owner of an ice factory at Ilisha, said, “Electricity generated in Bhola is supplied to other districts, while our ice factory business is now on the verge of closure due to severe load-shedding.”
Businessman Rizvi Sakil of Lalmohan said power cuts had become a daily problem.
“Load-shedding has become a routine. Our entire business depends on electricity, but the way outages are increasing, we may have no option but to shut down,” he said.
Residents say it is difficult to accept that electricity produced from Bhola’s own gas fields is being supplied elsewhere while the district itself remains without adequate power.
Dilruba Jasmin, a resident of Muslim Para in Bhola town, said, “Around 450 megawatts of electricity is supplied to the national grid from Bhola every day, yet Bhola suffers from load-shedding. It is like a shortage of electricity in the land of electricity.”
Gas wealth remains underused
Bhola’s advantage lies in its abundant gas reserves.
According to Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX), the district has around 1.75 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, although the actual figure may be higher.
BAPEX discovered the Shahbazpur Gas Field in 1995, with production beginning in 2009. The Bhola North field, discovered in 2018, and the Ilisha field, discovered in 2023, have yet to begin production.
The operational gas fields have a combined production capacity of around 122 million cubic feet per day. However, because of limited local demand and the lack of a national gas pipeline, only around 90 million cubic feet is currently extracted and supplied daily. The remaining capacity remains unused.
Officials said a gas pipeline from Bhola to the mainland was not pursued as it was considered commercially unviable. Instead, electricity generated from the district is transmitted to the national grid.
For residents, however, the arrangement has created a frustrating contradiction: a district rich in gas and electricity continues to struggle for power.
