Power Cuts Coordinated in Dhaka, Electricity Redistributed to Rural Areas

File Photo

News Desk: The Power Division has said that the country’s current power shortage and load-shedding situation has been caused by a combination of fuel shortages, mechanical faults and maintenance at power plants, transmission and grid limitations, and rapidly increasing electricity demand.

In a message issued by the Power Division on Tuesday (August 25), it said that despite having sufficient power-generation capacity, electricity production has declined due to inadequate fuel supplies and technical problems and maintenance at several power plants.

At the same time, transmission and grid constraints, coupled with a sharp rise in electricity demand in recent weeks, have further complicated the situation. To ease the pressure of load shedding, several measures have been taken. Load shedding is being coordinated in areas under the Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) and Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) to keep outages in rural areas at a tolerable level and prevent prolonged power cuts in any particular area.

According to the Power Division, electricity saved through coordinated load shedding in Dhaka is being redistributed to rural areas and other parts of the country.

As a result, power supply to important consumer groups, including industrial facilities outside Dhaka, has improved. The move has also helped reduce the pressure of prolonged and frequent load shedding in rural areas, the division said. This is allowing the burden of load shedding to be distributed more evenly across different regions of the country.

The Power Division said its primary objective under the current circumstances is to maintain balance in the electricity supply system and ensure that no particular region or category of consumers remains without electricity for an extended period.

The situation is expected to improve further if fuel supplies recover, power plants return to full production capacity, and grid constraints are addressed.

According to sources at Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the country’s sole state-owned entity responsible for electricity transmission through the national grid, load shedding stood at 2,259 megawatts at around 3pm on Tuesday. Against a demand of 16,176 megawatts, power generation was 13,917 megawatts at the time.