The government is relying heavily on 'expensive' oil-fired power plants to generate electricity with shutting down a significant number of 'cheap' gas-fired power plants due to suspension of re-gasified LNG supply.
Electricity generation of around 1,732 megawatt (MW) is being hampered currently due to gas shortage, according to statistics of state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).
A total of 19 gas-fired power plants are now kept shut due to shortage of gas supply.
Country's overall electricity generation costs are also increasing significantly with an escalation of oil prices in the international market, a senior BPDB official said on Sunday.
BPDB, the lone buyer of electricity from the power producers, has been purchasing electricity due to non-availability of low-cost electricity in the national power grid, said the official.
Electricity generation from low-cost hydropower plant is also limited to around 70 MW, which is only 30 per cent of its total 230-MW generation capacity.
According to the BPDB, fuel cost to generate around 7,800 MW of electricity was around Tk 339 million as of November 09, 2018.
Of the total fuel costs, Tk 251 million or 74 per cent accounts for oil.
Currently, electricity generation cost in gas-fired independent power producer (IPP) plant is below Tk 3.0 per unit (1.0 kilowatt-hour), state-run gas-fired power plant is around Tk 3.0 per unit and gas-fired rental power plant is around Tk 4 per unit.
Electricity generation cost in government-owned furnace-oil fired power plants is Tk 13-16 per unit, rental and quick rental power plants Tk 9.5-13 per unit, and in IPP plants at Tk 9-14 per unit. Electricity generation cost in state-owned diesel-fired power plants is Tk 15-32 per unit and in diesel-fired rental power plants Tk 23-33 per unit.
"We are currently producing around 700-MW of additional electricity from the oil-fired power plants," said Saiful Hasan Chowdhury, BPDB director, public relations.
He, however, expressed the hope that re-gasification of floating LNG (liquefied natural gas) would re-start soon.
But a senior Petrobangla official said it cancelled another regular shipment of LNG from Qatar as the damage to underwater hydraulic valve, located between the FSRU and the subsea pipeline, has not yet been fixed.
With this cancellation, Petrobangla cancelled two LNG import cargoes since the termination of re-gasification at the FSRU (floating, storage, regasification unit) on November 03.
RasGas of Qatar was also requested not to ship LNG to Bangladesh until further instructions, he added.
The state-run oil, gas and mineral entity is scheduled to import three LNG cargoes every month each carrying around 140,000 cubic metres of lean LNG.
RasGas so far supplied around 860,000 cubic metres by six vessels, said the official. Consumers across the country are suffering a lot due to gas supply shortfall while households are struggling with low-pressure gas supplies during cooking.
According to Petrobangla statistics, around 327 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of re-gasified LNG were being supplied to the national grid before the problem occurred.
Country's overall natural gas supply declined to around 2,700 mmcfd after the termination of re-gasification.
When contacted, energy adviser of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Prof M Shamsul Alam stressed investing state money in the energy sector to ensure state dominance.
But unfortunately, he said, businessmen already took control of this sector.
Mr Alam demanded ensuring transparency and accountability in energy pricing, expenditure and awarding of contracts to keep energy prices 'rational.'
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