People’s sufferings mount due to power cuts, heat wave

The people of the country are suffering a lot due to frequent power cuts and severe heat wave. The situation has got worse in the densely populated city of Dhaka. Due to frequent power outages, water crisis also hit many areas in the capital.

Zakaria Hossain, a resident of Hazaribagh, said electricity goes off at 12 am in the night and comes after an hour. It goes off again around 2 am before his sleep was a bit deeper. There is no water in house the situation is very bad.

It is reported that the villagers in the country are facing more load-shedding than Dhaka. Load-shedding has made people’s life miserable in as Rajshahi, Nilphamari, Dinajpur and Chuadanga as intense heat wave is sweeping over these districts, according to the Meteorological Department.

Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) says maximum load-shedding is happening from 12 pm to 3 am. After 10 pm, power generation drops to an average of 2,000MW. During the normal time, the electricity demand decreases at night, but it is not decreasing much for few days, said PGCB officials.

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid has also admitted that load-shedding has become intolerable. He told the reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday that power outage has reached an intolerable level. He also expressed the hope that the situation may improve in next 10-15 days.

Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said the ongoing crisis has been created due to mismanagement in the power sector which is likely to increase in the future.

Country experiences 3,000MW load-shedding

According to PGCB, peak power demand is generally observed between 6 pm to 10 pm. During the time, electricity generation also increased. At 9 pm on June 2, the maximum power generation was 14,377MW. At this time, load-shedding was only 375 MW. After that, production started to decrease and load-shedding situation aggravated. At 12 noon on Saturday, maximum load-shedding was 2,247MW.

Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) says the total power generation capacity is now 23,370MW. Out of this, on an average, 4,500MW cannot be produced due to fuel shortage. Apart from this, 2,500MW cannot be produced for regular maintenance of power stations. 12,000MW to 14,000MW is being generated out of 16,000MW.

The highest electricity generation in the country was 15,648MW on April 19. But it continued to decline in the last month due to fuel shortage. Apart from gas, power plants are also facing coal shortage.

Rampal power plant has been closed in two stages due to inability to import coal due to dollar crisis. Besides, the largest power plant, 1320 MW Payra, is on the verge of closure. If it is closed, then load-shedding may worsen further.

Officials of the power distribution company say the country experiences more than 3,000MW of load-shedding for some hours on the day.

BPDB Member (Generation) SM Wazed Ali Sardar said the demand has increased due to a rise in temperature. The oil-fired power plants cannot be run all the time. Efforts are being made to generate maximum 12,500MW during the daytime and 14,000MW at night.

Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) and Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) officials have said the electricity demand is high at daytime. People in DESCO areas experienced the maximum load-shedding of 317MW even on a weekly holiday on Saturday and those in DPDC up to 325MW.

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board says there was maximum load-shedding of 2,400MW around 6 pm on Saturday.

According to Meteorological Department, intense heat wave is sweeping over Nilphamari and Dinajpur districts. Mild to moderate heat wave is sweeping over Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Barishal divisions along with Rangpur, Mymensingh, Moulvibazar, Rangamati, Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali and Bandarban districts. The heat wave may continue, it added. The highest temperature in the country--41.1 degrees Celsius--was recorded in Dinajpur on Sunday while the lowest temperature of 23.5 degrees Celsius in Netrakona.