Power crisis grips the country, public anger grows

A combination of severe technical disruptions and an acute fuel shortage has triggered widespread power outages across Bangladesh, causing immense public suffering, disrupting industrial production and sparking unrest in several districts.

Peak load shedding reached 3,383 MWh on Wednesday afternoon, while the highest electricity generation stood at 16,093 MWh, prompting the authorities to enforce strict energy-saving measures across the retail and commercial sectors.

Under newly announced operational guidelines from the Power Division, shopping malls, markets and retail stores must operate strictly between 11:00 am and 8:00 pm. Illuminated billboards must be switched off by 7:00 pm, while decorative lighting remains prohibited.

On August 10, Power Grid Bangladesh (PGCB) recorded 3,757 MWh of load shedding, the highest level in recent times.

In Rajshahi, media consultant Tarik Hasan said he experienced four power cuts at his office in the Bornali Mor area between noon and 9:30 pm on Wednesday. After returning home, he faced two more outages, each lasting roughly an hour.

“Being disgusted, I haven’t gone to the office today (Thursday), and am working from home,” Tarik told Daily Waadaa.

The power shortage has also been felt in the capital since Wednesday, although the intensity varies by neighbourhood, causing considerable discomfort amid hot and humid weather.

Jannatul Bushra Hridita, a third-year student at North South University who lives in the Bashundhara Residential Area, said she normally experiences little load shedding but faced three outages on Wednesday, each lasting around 30 to 40 minutes.

“It’s unbearable when there is no electricity at night, especially amid this heat,” Hridita said.

Public anger

Similar complaints have emerged from different parts of the country. Consumers say electricity is repeatedly going off and returning throughout the day, making it increasingly difficult to work, study and cope with the heat.

The shortages have also fuelled public anger. In some areas, frustrated consumers have attacked and vandalised local power distribution offices.

Fearing further hostility, the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Association on Wednesday sent a letter to the Police Headquarters seeking enhanced security at 80 rural electricity cooperatives. The association requested stronger security at substations and offices of rural electricity cooperatives across the country.

In Sylhet city, protesters blocked roads and set fires on Wednesday night in protest against severe load shedding.

The disruption is also taking a toll on industries.

Omar Hamid Chowdhury, managing director of Hydroxide Knitwear Ltd in Konabari, Gazipur, said his factory is facing six to eight hours of load shedding every day.

“We don’t know where the end is,” he said.

Fuel shortage deepens power crisis

Bangladesh has an installed electricity-generation capacity of more than 33,000h MW against a peak demand of just over 18,500h MW. However, actual generation is constrained by fuel availability and other operational limitations, meaning installed capacity does not necessarily translate into electricity that can be generated when needed.

The latest electricity crisis has been aggravated by a sharp reduction in gas supplies to power plants following an incident at an LNG terminal in Maheshkhali last month. A technical fault occurred during a ship-to-ship LNG transfer operation at the Excelerate Energy-operated floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), reducing gas supplies to the national grid by about 500 million cubic feet per day.

Gas-fired power plants currently receive only about 800 million cubic feet of gas per day, against a requirement of 1.4 billion cubic feet.

Apart from Excelerate Energy, Summit is the country's other operational FSRU operator. Due to adverse weather conditions at sea, gas supplies from Summit’s floating terminal have fallen to around 100 million cubic feet per day. If weather conditions do not improve, there are concerns that supplies from the terminal could be suspended completely.

The gas shortage has constrained gas-fired power plants and contributed to electricity shortages, as a large portion of the country's power-generation fleet depends on natural gas.

Sources say gas-fired power plants typically generate around 5,500 MWh of electricity, but output has recently fallen to around 4,000 MWh.

Meanwhile, coal- and furnace-oil-fired power plants are struggling to operate because of fuel import shortages stemming from the foreign-exchange crisis, as well as supply-chain disruptions linked to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud said on Thursday that until repairs to the FSRU are completed, there is currently no option other than managing load shedding and waiting.

The minister made the remarks while participating in a dialogue titled “Navigating Bangladesh Energy Crisis: Immediate Priorities and the Path to a Sustainable Energy Future,” organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

“I just want to say this much: we are working... But during this crisis, there is actually nothing more I can do right now. Because at this point, I cannot extract more gas, nor can I bring down [regasify] the gas I already have without the FSRU,” he said.

Energy experts emphasise that while the offshore FSRU failure triggered the immediate shortfall, the crisis reflects deeper, long-term structural vulnerabilities.

Over the past two decades, Bangladesh has not discovered any new domestic gas fields since the 2005 Moulvibazar discovery. As a result, the country has developed a heavily import-dependent power infrastructure centred on gas, coal and furnace oil, leaving the electricity sector vulnerable to disruptions in fuel supplies and fluctuations in international energy markets.

The latest crisis has exposed that vulnerability once again, as a sudden reduction in LNG supplies has rapidly translated into pressure on electricity generation, widespread load shedding and mounting public and industrial distress.