Load shedding continues across the country

Load shedding continued across the country on Tuesday as consumers in many areas in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere experienced power cuts for several hours in a number of spells.

According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the country had to experience about 1400 MW of load shedding as it generated less than 13,000 MW against a demand of over 14,000 MW, reports UNB.

As a result, consumers in and outside the capital had to experience frequent interruption and load shedding, said an official of the BPDB.

He attributed the fall in power generation to the shortage of gas supply to the power plants saying that the BPDB had to hold up generation of about 3400 MW of electricity despite having the capacity. Dhaka city alone had to experience over 500 MW of load shedding.

Managing director of Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) Bikash Dewan informed that his areas had to go for 400 MW of load shedding to cover the gap between demand and supply.

“DPDC received 1200 MW of electricity against the demand for 1600 MW”, he told UNB.

He said that he is trying to design a plan for load shedding so that people could be aware of the interruption to mentally accept the power cut.

“If we could implement the plan, it will give lesser sufferings to the people”, he said.

The areas under DPDC in the city include Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Lalbagh, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Malibagh, Mogbazar, Tejgaon, Kakrain, Santinagar, Agargaon, Kalabagan, Kawranbazar and Tejturibazar area.

The areas under the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (Desco) also had to experience black outs on several spells.

Desco had to resort to load shedding of 134 MW in its areas, said its managing director Kawsar Ameer Ali.

He informed that the Desco was allocated 800 MW plus electricity against a demand of over 1000 MW.

The Desco mainly distributes electricity to the city’s west, north-west, and eastern parts which include Uttara, Mirpur, Badda, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Niketon, and Badda.

However, electricity consumers outside the capital alleged that they had to experience blackouts for several hours.

“Even, consumers in many areas had to keep without electricity for 5-6 hours a day in different spells”, said an official of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) which received reports from different areas across the country.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources held a high level meeting with officials of BPDB and Petrobangla to find a way to improve the power and gas supply situation.

An official who attended the meeting said that the Petrobangla was asked from the meeting to increase gas production so that more gas-fired power plants could resume operation.