The whole country has been grappling with power cuts over the past few days. This has compounded the woe of common people during a period of extremely hot and humid weather. According to government officials, the country is suffering more than 1,500MW of power outage in peak hours as the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) faces a severe shortage of gas at its power plants. Power plants having the capacity of around 1,700MW have remained idle, the officials said. In some areas, people have to suffer eight to 10 hours of load shedding, which is extremely hard in the current weather conditions. The long spells of power cut have forced them to shut down their businesses as well. Mohammed Akbar, a resident of Kajla area in Jatrabari, told The Independent: “We suffer load shedding at 11 pm or even after that. We don't know why power cuts happen after midnight even when offices and factories remain closed.”

“The government claims that it has been successful in the power sector. But since Wednesday last, we suffer power cuts from 4.30 pm to 7.30 pm in my area,” said Sumon, a resident of Chandgaw area in Chittagong.

Sources said the country needs 10,500–11,000MW of power in peak hours amid the prevailing hot weather. But the BPDB cannot keep pace with the rising demand for power. On Wednesday, it supplied about 9,083MW, which implies a shortage of at least 1,500MW.

On June 7, the BPDB had generated 9,479MW, the highest amount of power this year. But at present it is generating about 9,000–9,200MW of power every day, notwithstanding the claim that about 200MW of power were added in the last three months.

BPDB officials alleged that they are not getting enough gas for the power plants. The officials said they are getting only 1,023 MMCF of gas every day as against the requirement of more than 1,200MMCF.

When asked, the top Petrobangla official, however, denied such allegations. “We are supplying the same amount of

gas as had been supplied to the power development board three months ago,” said  Jameel A Aleem, director of Petrobangla.

“But the KAFCO and the Jamuna fertiliser factory have started the production after a long time. This could hit the gas pressure at the power plants,” he added.

The BPDB said that owing to the gas crisis, the 171MW Bagabari power plant  has been shout down. It also said that the 278MW Baramara plant generates only 90MW, the 230 MW Shirajganj plant generates 100MW, the 325MW Shiddirganj plants generate  40MW, the 1,600MW Asuganj plants generate 1,300MW, and the 900MW Gorashal plant generates 500MW of power.

Officials of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB)  said they are getting only 4,200–4,400MW of power as against thieir demand of more than 5,000MW.

Consumers in the Jessore city area said they are facing load shedding eight to 10 hours a day.

When asked, REB officials said they need 185MW of power in the area, but they are only getting 135MW at present.

Officials of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) said they are facing a different problem as their transformers have been overloaded, resulting in frequent power cuts for the consumers in the capital.