Electricity use during the day may be stopped, if necessary: Tawfiq-e-Elahi

Prime Minister's Advisor on Electricity, Energy and Mineral Resources Taufiq-e-Ilahi Chowdhury said, if necessary, the use of electricity should be stopped during the day.

'Our reserves condition is not good, we do not know what will happen next. If necessary, everyone should stop using electricity during the day', he said.

Taufiq-e-Ilahi Chowdhury said this while addressing the chief guest at the discussion meeting titled 'Mitigating the Harmful Impact of Energy Crisis in Industry' organized by Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) at Westin Hotel in the capital on Sunday (October 23).

He said, "80 million cubic feet of gas will be shipped from the Bhola gas field and added to the national grid within the next two or three months."

'If we import 200 MMcf of gas at the current spot market rate for the next six months, it will cost about $1.2 billion more than long-term LNG. But the government is not in a condition to invest this amount,' he added.

Some coal-based power plants will come into production by next December, he added.

Tawfiq-e-Ilahi Chowdhury said to the businessmen present, if we want to save gas today, load shedding will increase. Then you will criticize. But once there was no electricity everywhere. If we want we can turn off AC, reduce electricity consumption.