Load shedding escalates in villages early this April

People have been suffering due to load shedding in summer for the last couple of years. The situation may even get worse this time. Already people in the rural areas are experiencing seven to hours of power outage daily. Although the demand has spiked, power generation couldn’t be increased because of the fuel crisis.

Sources in the Power Division, Power Development Board (PDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) say the country’s daily power generation capacity is nearly 26,000 MW. The maximum demand of electricity during the day was 15,500 MW on Wednesday. The overall deficit in the supply was more than 2,000 MW at the time, which was compensated through load shedding in different rural parts of the country outside Dhaka. A maximum of 1,826 MW of load shedding was recorded in the early hours of Wednesday.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, PDB member (generation) Khandaker Mokammel Hossain said they have been struggling a bit to generate power as per the demand despite trying their best. They are producing maximum from the coal plants. Gas supply in the power sector is expected to increase after the launching of the LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal. The oil-run plants have been directed to escalate power generation. He expects the situation to improve very soon.

The country’s power generation capacity is twice the demand now. Power prices have been raised in several phases. Even after that, the government subsidy in the power sector has been raised further every year. Despite all these, an uninterrupted supply of electricity couldn’t be ensured. We still rely on nature for uninterrupted power supply. Electricity is available to all when the temperature is low. But, people suffer due to load shedding when temperature rises.

According to the power distribution agency PDB, Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited (NESCO) and West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZPDCL), power outages are relatively less in the city areas outside Dhaka. There is no load shedding in Dhaka as there is no deficit. Power outage hits parts of the capital due to technical glitches. On Wednesday, the maximum demand of the DESCO (Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited) was 1,160 MW and DPDC (Dhaka Power Distribution Company) had a maximum demand of 1,850 MW. Both had adequate supply yesterday.

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (REB) supplies electricity in most of the rural areas of the country. A reliable source in the board says power supply is not up to the demand at the moment. They had a demand of a maximum of 7,900 MW per hour at noon yesterday. The supply was 6,100 MW at the time. The deficit of 1,800 MW was covered through power outage in areas under the REB.

A Power Division statistics shows that an hour of load shedding across the entire country saves some 976 MW power. And more than two hours of load shedding is needed to cover up a 2,000 MW-deficit.

However, the distributing companies say most city areas, including Dhaka, have been kept free of load shedding. The supply of power is not equal in the remaining rural areas of the country. As a result, people of some villages are seeing even six to seven hours of load shedding every day. Supply is higher in the areas with higher generation capacity. This is why, there has been no power outage in the rural areas of the Barishal region.

Load shedding has been on the rise in Sylhet over the last week. Although people were experiencing load shedding after every two hours for the last few days, the frequency has reduced to an hour since Tuesday. The overall demand of PDB clients in the district was some 105 MW at 3:00 pm Wednesday. However, the supply was only 56 MW. It means, a deficit of around 53 per cent was covered through power outage.

The deficit is 50 MW against the demand in Lakshmipur. Speaking to Prothom Alo, Jahangir Alam, a school teacher from Chandipur area in the Ramganj upazila in the district, said they are going through an intolerable suffering with load shedding day and night amid scorching heat.

The temperature in Dinajpur has been fluctuating between 32° C - 35 ° C. The people there are seeing load shedding five to six times a day. Meanwhile, in Nagaon, people of 11 upazilas are experiencing seven to eight hours of power outage every day. The farmers in the district are in trouble due to interruptions in the irrigation because of load shedding.

Naogaon Palli Bidyut Samity-2 deputy general manager Razzaqur Rahman says the demand and deficit are rising simultaneously. The supply has been around 40 per cent less than the demand since 1 April, he said.

The severity of load shedding is comparatively higher in all districts of the Mymensingh division, especially in the rural areas of Netrokona with seven hours to eight hours of power outage daily.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Masum Sarker of the Daulatpur village in Atpara upazila said power went out six times from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm Wednesday.

Gazipur Palli Bidyut Samiti sources say the deficit is around 43 per cent on average daily, which has been compensated by imposing load shedding.

The daily demand of gas in the power sector is 232 cubic feet. The PDB has demanded at least 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas in summer. The supply at the moment is 1 billion cubic feet. As a result, more than half of the total capacity of 11,000 MW gas-run power generations is remaining unused.

The Petrobangla has said that they cannot import gas as per the demand as one of the LNG Terminal in Maheshkhali is not in operation at the moment. The terminal is expected to be in service in a day or two, which will increase gas supply.

The country has a capacity of generating 4,500 MW power from coal-based plants. Almost all of the capacity is being used. However, there are doubts over uninterrupted due to the pending bills of the coal power plant.

The complications regarding the dues of the oil-run power plants from the private sector are yet to be settled as dollars are not always available to import fuel oil. The oil-run plants have a capacity of producing 7,000 MW power in all. However, power generation is less than 1,000 MW during the day at the moment, which increases to 3,000 MW at night.

Power sector experts say the demand of power at different times of the day during summer, how much power needs to be generated and how much fuel will be needed for that are all known factors.

It was said on behalf of the government that the demand for power may exceed 17,000 MW this summer. They said about preparations to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the holy month of Ramadan. Why that plan has not been applied. The experts raised the question as to why there would be an uncertainty over energy supply.

People of the country suffered more than three hours of power outage a day on average during the last two summers. The country experienced even eight to ten hours of load shedding in some places. Despite the failure to ensure uninterrupted supply, the overall cost of the power sector has gone up due to the unused additional power generation capacity, which mounts more pressure of subsidy. The government wants to adjust the subsidy to tackle the pressure. It has announced to raise power prices gradually over the next three years. Already the power prices have been increased 12 times at wholesale and 14 times at retail levels in the last one and half decades.

Speaking to Prothom Alo regarding this, Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) energy advisor M Shamsul Alam said, “The power sector still relies on nature. Electricity is not available when it is needed the most during summer. Despite the rise in the power generation capacity, the situation hasn’t improved.”

[Prothom Alo correspondents from respective districts have helped prepare this report with information]

*This report has been appeared on the print on online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu