Fuel shortage interrupts electricity generation

Fuel shortage is interrupting electricity generation, aggravating the load shedding situation in the country amid scorching heat.  

Power plants using liquid fuel and coal have been producing less than their capacity due to the scarcity of fuel as the ongoing foreign currency crunch obstructs its import.

Meanwhile, people across the country have been suffering heavily due to around seven to eight hours of power outages in a day.

Power Division officials said the electricity supply situation would improve within a few days as they have started discussions with stakeholders about acquiring fuel for generating power.

"As an attempt to improve the situation, we have requested the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation to supply around 20% of the required fuel to the private producers so that they can produce more electricity," SM Wazed Ali Sardar, member (generation) of  the Bangladesh Power Development Board, told TBS.

The country's power plants need around 3.50 lakh tonne liquid fuel in a month.

However, on condition of anonymity, a top official of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation told TBS it would not be possible for them to supply fuel to the private producers in this critical situation as they cannot open the required amount of LCs to import fuel.

"Some of our suppliers have already refused to supply fuel as we have delayed paying the bills," said the BPC officials.

Despite getting a record amount of gas supply from the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation (Petrobangla), the Power Development Board could not meet the demand for electricity on Monday.

According to Power Development Board's data, around 34 furnace oil-based plants could not produce electricity at full capacity on Monday.

There are 64 furnace oil-based plants in the country with a capacity to produce 6,500MW of electricity, but they supplied only 3,873MW on that day.

Moreover, the electricity supply is also squeezing as the Rampal power plant has remained shut for the last two weeks over a failure to import coal.

Faisal Khan, president of the Bangladesh Independent Power Producers' Association (Bippa), said furnace oil-based plants are running at half of their capacity due to a shortage of fuel from the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and nominated fuel suppliers.

He said power plants have not received bills for five months for supplying electricity to the government, while they are struggling to clear the bills for importing fuel.

The US dollar is fully controlled by the Bangladesh Bank. So it is beyond any independent power producers' capacity to source dollars. Even commercial banks have been suffering due to a shortage of dollars," he added.