No respite from power cuts

Life in the capital and elsewhere in the country has become miserable with the mercury rising and its effects worsened by frequent power cuts.

The HSC examinees are facing severe difficulties in taking their preparations due to rampant power outage while the erratic electricity supply is hampering production in factories as well as office works.

With the mercury hovering around 35 degrees Celsius in the capital in the last several days, the frequent power outage, over eight hours a day, is hampering daily activities badly and the situation is becoming infuriating to unbearable, city dwellers complain and say their life would be standstill if the situation remains unchanged.

The officials concerned, however, blamed on shortfall in power generation and low pressure of gas behind the frequent power cuts.

About 3,963 megawatts (MW) of power was generated in the country yesterday against a demand of 5,050MW, causing an official shortfall of 1087MW. Over 550MW of power could not be generated due to poor gas supply to many power plants, Power Development Board (PDB) sources said.

The scenario was pretty satisfactory on April 14 as around 4022MW of power was generated thanks to an increased gas supply to the power plants.

The demand of power has already crossed the last year's demand of 4700MW in peak hours. Due to shortage of gas supply, power unit over 500MW capacity has been sitting idle for the last six months, according to sources.

"This situation could have been better if only we could ensure adequate gas supply to power plants," said a PDB official adding that power could not be generated in Haripur, Tongi and Rawjan power plants due to the low pressure of gas.

The official load-shedding yesterday was over 1000MW while about 1150MW on Wednesday.

According to Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC), around 1,292MW of power was supplied to the capital against an approximate demand of 1,800MW during peak hours yesterday.

The DPDC officials said they keep load-shedding in different areas for ensuring power supply to the HSC examination centres.

Admitting excessive deficiency in power generation and its erratic supply in almost every area in the capital, an official at Dhaka Electricity Supply Company (DESCO) said there will be no improvement in power situation until new power stations are set up.

Sources however said frequent load-shedding will be reduced only after end of irrigation for Boro crops and beginning of the rainy season. Now about 1,000MW of power is being used for irrigation every day.

During daytime it is intolerable to stay at house due to the scorching heat and frequent power cuts, said Moksud Reza, a resident of Sector-5 of Uttara, adding the fuel costs for operating generator have also shot up due to the crisis.

M Rubel of Sector-14, Uttara said, "Power goes off every two hours in my house and remains off for over an hour. Even, it goes off at awkward times like 1:00 am every day."