Bangladesh to ensure continous electricity supply for industries

The Bangladesh Power Development Board plans to ensure continous electricity supply for industries and well-off consumers through dedicated lines.

But it will entail extra costs on the consumers.

The government is not able to provide with additional subsidy to oil-based power plants as petroleum fuel prices nearly doubled recently from $74 per barrel in 2009, said the Prime Minister’s Power and Energy Adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury.

“So the government mulls to provide with extra electricity to industrial units if they pay for it,” he said after a meeting on smooth power supply to industrial and commercial units in Dhaka.

State Minister for Power and Energy Muhammed Enamul Huq chaired the meeting while Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain, Power Division Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad, BPDB Chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir, among other concerned senior officials, were also present.

“BPDB will place a proposal within a week before the BERC seeking the latter’s permission to sell electricity to industrial units at higher prices,” Power Division Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad told reporters on Monday. Azad said the government has also decided to provide with uninterrupted electricity supply to some well-off areas if the consumers agree to pay extra charge.

The BPDB Chairman said due to high liquid fuel costs, they have to keep at least 300-350MW of production capacity unutilised each day.

“If the industrial units agree with our proposal, then the shortfall of their demand would be met through power which would cost at Tk 16 per unit,” he said.

The demand for power in the industrial units is 2,200MW but day as per their sanctioned loads, their daily requirement is around 6,500MW.

Currently, Bangladesh Power Development Board produces around 5,000MW of electricity a day against the demand for 7,500MW.