The extent of load shedding crossed 1,860 MW on Sunday, a new high in power shortage in at least a decade, on the heels of a new record in power generation.
The recent highest power generation in the country was recorded at 16,233 MW at 9pm last Monday. But despite that load shedding continued across the country, as the prevailing heatwave increased the demand for electricity.
The amount of load shedding is the difference between the amount of electricity generated and its demand, when the former is in deficit.
The official data of the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) at the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) shows that the load shedding reached 1864 MW at 12 noon Sunday, the day's peak for electricity demand amid the sweltering heat.
However, rural level officials of different power utilities believe the extent of load shedding is far more than the official figure shown by NLDC as local interruptions in power supply don't always come to the book.
"Power outages at the rural areas are so frequent that if any interruption takes place, consumers have to wait several hours to get electricity at both day and night," an official of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), told UNB.
"The extent of load shedding might even be more than 2000 MW if local outages are taken into account," he added, requesting anonymity to speak as the issue is considered sensitive.
According to official sources, the maximum burden of load shedding was diverted to rural areas, as part of a policy to avert power outages in capital Dhaka, and other large cities.
Reports from different areas said the extent of load shedding is aggravating the plight of rural people amid the sweltering heat this summer.
NLDC records also show load shedding on Sunday started with 1,789 MW at 1am and then at one stage came down to 1319 MW at 7am. But again it took a U-turn upwards as the day wore one.
Officials apprehend the extent of load shedding may go up further in the evening peak hours when normally demand goes up.
Both the data from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and PGCB show that the country's day's demand forecast was set at 16,900 MW and evening demand at 15,500 MW.
Meanwhile, state-owned Petrobangla's official data shows that the country's gas production was 3,105 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) against a demand for about 4000 MMCFD.
It shows that a good number of power plants, specifically those using gas as their primary fuel, remained off generation due to gas shortage.
The power plants received a supply of 1423 MMCFD gas against their demand for 2316.9 MMCFD, the data shows.
