Power cuts continue as transmission yet to return to pre-grid failure levels

People, be it in Dhaka city or in remote villages, continue to suffer from three-four hours of load shedding every day as power supplies have not yet improved to the levels before Tuesday's national grid failure.

The authorities now cut power supply in different areas the moment they find it overloaded as part of cautiousness following the 4 October blackout that hit half of the country, Md Shamim Hasan, spokesperson of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), told The Business Standard.

BPDB officials also put this power crunch down to a shortage of gas supply to gas-based power plants.

Moreover, the government has not increased power production from liquid oil-based plants owing to higher generation costs.

That is why the people continue to experience long hours of power outages, they noted.

Meanwhile, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh formed a seven-member committee to probe 4 October's blackout, and it was supposed to submit a report on Friday.

But the committee did not submit the report, said a committee member.

Dr Abdul Hasib Chowdhury, a member of the committee and Buet professor, said there are various complex issues that the committee needs to incorporate in the report. It is not possible to complete the task within the given three days.

On 18 July, while bringing in a raft of austerity measures to save energy and take pressure off the forex reserve, the government had said rolling power outages would continue till September.

On Friday, the weekly holiday, long hours of power cuts were recorded across the country.

Gas-fired power plants need around 1,400 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas per day, but the supply is below 1,000mmcf, BPDB officials noted.

Currently, Petrobangla supplies a total of 2,666.6mmcf gas per day to different types of consumers, which was around 3,100mmcf last January. Because of the lower power generation, electricity distribution companies are failing to meet the demand.

Therefore, people are suffering from severe load shedding every day.

The Dhaka Power Distribution Company, one of the six distribution companies that supplies electricity to the Dhaka South City Corporation and nearby Narayanganj, is experiencing around 450-500 megawatts of load shedding daily.

Its Managing Director Engineer Bikash Dewan said the company is getting only 950MW against a demand for 1,450MW.

Md Kausar Ameer Ali, managing director of Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited, which supplies power to Dhaka North City Corporation, Uttara and Tongi, said they are also facing a shortage of 150MW-200MW daily while its demand is 1,140MW.

The Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, the largest distribution company that supplies electricity to the country's remote areas through its 80 associations, is also not getting the required supply from the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh.

Debashis Chakraborti, member (Distribution and Operation) of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, said the company has a demand for 8,608MW of electricity daily, but it is getting only 7,500-8,000MW.

Therefore, the people in different districts are not getting the 24/7 electricity supply, he added.