Despite government announcements of planned power cuts in the capital, Dhaka remains largely free from load-shedding, while rural areas continue to suffer from prolonged outages.
A significant drop in electricity demand – approximately 1,000 megawatts (MW) lower than the previous day due to the weekly holiday – has contributed to the capital’s stability.
On Thursday, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam Amit informed the National Parliament that the government intends to implement an experimental 110MW load-shedding schedule in Dhaka.
Explaining the decision, the state minister emphasised the need for equity between urban and rural populations.
“It is in no way acceptable that city dwellers live in comfort while our hardworking farmers in the villages suffer,” the state minister said. “The spirit of the July Uprising was to build a discrimination-free Bangladesh.
“Therefore, there can be no disparity between the city and the village.”
Disparity in experience
While the policy aims for balance, the reality on the ground remains divided. Sumon Rahman, a resident of Banglabazar in Old Dhaka, told TIMES of Bangladesh that he has experienced minimal disruption.
“Based on what I hear from across the country, we are in a good position. Following the state minister’s remarks, I was worried, but today the power only went out once for about 10 minutes,” he said.
In contrast, the situation in Thakurgaon is increasingly frustrating for residents like Farhan Rahman, an SSC candidate. “If the power stays on for half an hour, it remains off for an hour and a half,” he told TIMES. “Such a situation before examinations is deeply concerning.”
Supply-demand gap
According to Sirajul Islam, the Executive Engineer of the Northern Electricity Supply Company (NESCO) in Thakurgaon, the district faces a severe supply shortage. While the demand ranges between 23 and 26 MW, the district is only receiving 9 to 11 MW.
Reports from divisional cities, districts, and upazilas indicate that while urban outages are limited, rural areas are enduring between three to five hours of load-shedding daily.
In Jhalakathi, while urban conditions improved slightly on Friday, there were still three hours of outages during the day. Similar reports of rural hardship compared to urban relative stability were received from correspondents in Cumilla and Brahmanbaria.
Data discrepancies
Information from Power Grid Bangladesh (PGB) shows that on Friday, the country’s potential maximum demand during peak hours was 15,950MW, against a production of 14,700MW, resulting in a deficit of approximately 1,146MW.
This is a significant decrease from Thursday, when the Ministry of Power reported a 3,000 MW deficit, with demand at 17,000MW and production at 14,000MW. On Wednesday, PGB recorded a peak-hour deficit exceeding 2,000MW.
However, official statistics remain inconsistent. The Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (REB) provides separate figures that suggest actual load-shedding remains closer to 2,000MW.
Root causes of the crisis
While Bangladesh has a total installed generation capacity of nearly 29,000 MW, a significant portion of this remains idle.
Currently, 18 power plants are shut down due to gas shortages, 14 due to a lack of liquid fuel, and 10 due to maintenance or mechanical faults. Additionally, five plants are offline as their contracts have expired.
Notably, the list of inactive plants includes two 1,600MW units from India’s Adani Power and three units of the 525MW Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant in Bangladesh.
Energy expert Ejaz Hossain told TIMES that the fuel crisis is the primary driver of the current situation. “The fuel shortage is clearly impacting production. If the power plants could operate at full capacity, the situation would be much improved,” he said.
He further suggested that gradual price adjustments for electricity could help alleviate the pressure of subsidies on the sector.
