Al Mamun Harun Ur Rashid :
The frequent power outage in the capital in the recent days is disrupting the production in factories and making the lives of people miserable amid the shooting up mercury.
The capital is experiencing several hours of load shedding daily and it might be aggravated in the upcoming days as the power generation has dropped due to the shortage of gas and oil supply.
Witnessing the aggravating situation of load shedding, State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Monday said, the power generation is being hampered due to the shortage of gas supply.
In his verified page of the Facebook, he said, “The power distribution is being hampered in different areas due to the shortage of electricity. The situation will improve when the gas supply will be normal.”
The State Minister also regretted for the temporary sufferings of the consumers of the electricity. “Bangladesh like other countries is facing some troubles by the price hike of fuels in the international market due to the impact of war. We are sorry for the temporary inconveniences of the electricity clients,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) sources said, they are not getting adequate electricity supply against their daily rising demands.
The DESCO has a daily demand of 1000-1100 MW electricity but it is getting only 950MW.
The inadequate supply of electricity is mainly responsible for the frequent power outage in the mega city, where people are suffering in the scorching heat.
Power Development Board and DESCO sources said, the power generation has somewhat dropped due to the shortage of gas and the oil supply to different power plants of the country.
“With the rising temperature, the daily power demand has been increased. But the supply is not adequate. As a result, the frequent power outage is causing,” DESCO Superintendent Engineer Moyeen Uddin told The New Nation on Monday. “We have information that the power generation has fallen due to gas and oil supply to the power plants. If the generation does not increase, the load shedding will intensify in the upcoming days,” he said.
“Currently we have a demand of 1000-11000 MW electricity but we are getting 950MW. The per day demand decrease at night and in the morning but it increases midday and in the evening,” he added.
Mariam Khan, a woman entrepreneur of Jatanta Housing in Mirpur-1 told this correspondent that her area experienced load shedding for four times between 7am and 2pm on Monday.
“Load shedding has now become a common phenomenon. It is hampering my business schedule. If power outage continues, I will have a loss in the business in the imminent Eid,” she added.
Currently the total demand of electricity is over 13,500MW per day while the generation capacity is around 25,500MW. On April 12, the highest generation was registered at 14,423MW, PDB sources said.
DESCO sources said if the temperature goes up, the demand of electricity will increase and it will ultimately cause frequent load shedding.
According to Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the daily average temperature is recorded 30 to 36 degree Celsius.
“If the temperature goes up, the electricity demand will increase even in the off-peak hour and it will create more load shedding,” DESCO superintendent engineer said.
The power outage is not only taking place in different parts of the capital, but also happening in small towns and villages.
However, PDB and DESCO sources said, the upcoming days are not going to be smooth because the power disruption may aggravate if the power generation is not given due importance.
