'Hollow' promises of zero power cut plan
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Shahiduzzaman Khan
The Power Division has failed to live up to its promises to rid the country of power cuts by June this year. As was envisaged, no rental power plants (RPP) could be commissioned as yet. The Division drew up an 'ambitious' generation plan last year to produce 1500 megawatt (MW) of electricity with rental plants within a span of a year.
According to the plan, as a report in the FE this week suggests, 500MW was scheduled to be generated by December 2009 and the rest 1000 MW by June 2010. Ironically, not a single MW electricity could be generated as of now and there is no possibility to generate it by June as no RPP has been commissioned as yet. The Power Division has admitted its failure to implement the plan and attributed the delay to procedural complexities.
With the surge in demand for electricity in Bangladesh -- estimated at 8.0 to 10 per cent a year -- the Power Division is unable to match the growing demand. The country is, at present, generating around 3800 MW of electricity against the demand for 5500 MW. Such a yawning gap between demand and supply points largely to the sheer inefficiency of the state-owned power agencies which are bedevilled with multi-faceted operational problems. These agencies make 'hollow' promises very often in order to cool down the angry and suffering customers. This is the practice since long. There is no denying that all successive governments had failed to give due attention to the power sector that resulted in poor growth of this all-important sector.
Since beginning of the summer, the capital city is in the grip of severe power cuts due to fall in electricity generation as the Petrobangla is unable to supply adequate gas to the power plants. Most parts of the city are having around three to five hours of load shedding during daytime as power generation has dropped by around 200MW on an average. The capital, during the evening hours too, suffers load shedding for around two to three hours, as electricity generation remains low. Other parts of the country continue to reel under power outages for about 10-16 hours. Power shortage and too frequent power cuts are, indeed, wreaking havoc in people's lives.
Even the government's daylight saving time (DST) formula to save electricity did not have the desired effect in improving the power situation. A cross section of the city dwellers, interviewed by the media, said the power supply situation did not improve even after introduction of the DST last year. Load shedding and power outages remained the same. The DST was, however, cancelled when it was witnessed that it had failed to bring about the desired result in the country.
In recent days, consumption of electricity at houses, offices, markets and other establishments has increased due to excessive summer heat while production of power remains low for the shortfall in gas pressure. Different gas-fired power plants having around 800-megawatt power generation capacity now sit idle due to the gas crisis. This is intensifying the overall power load shedding, which tends to hover between 1,200 MW and 1,500 MW daily -- which is one third of the country's power demand. Trend suggests that there was no possibility of getting respite from the load shedding and power outages immediately.
Without ensuring sufficient electricity for the countrymen, the government is again contemplating raising the prices of electricity. The move is, what the authorities contend, aimed at offsetting possible losses for purchasing 'high-cost electricity' from unsolicited fuel oil-based rental power plants. Only in March this year, the government had hiked electricity tariff by up to 7.0 per cent. Now, a new hike in a span of a few months is feared to fuel public anger. The Power Division plans to raise the tariffs by 8.0 to 10 per cent this time.
When the power tariff was raised in March this year, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission {BERC) justified the hike saying that the systems loss in power sector had come down significantly. If that is the case, there is every reason to believe that the authorities should go for reducing the tariff, instead of hiking it. The systems loss in the country's power sector, one of the highest in the world, had gone abnormally high during most of the previous governments due to unabated irregularities and mismanagement by the state power agencies. Media reports say electricity pilferage is still going on and unauthorised power connections are still being reported from various corners of the country. In a recent report, a multilateral capital donor agency has mentioned that the country suffers a loss of $1.0 billion in annual power output, which is 2.0 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), due to inefficiency in the power sector.
Electricity is a fundamental right of the citizens. It is a critical input for development of any nation. At times, power tariff hike may be necessary to ensure stable and sustainable supply. And the government can also choose to do so, as and when necessary, provided it is for the public welfare. However, the move for affecting a fresh hike to power tariff has now come at a time when the entire power sector remains chronically inefficient due to years of neglect. Without improving the situation in power sector, it will not be a rational choice to force the citizens to pay for a service that they seldom get. The government needs to dedicate its full attention to generate more electricity in conformity with the country's huge development needs. szkhan@dhaka.net
The Power Division has failed to live up to its promises to rid the country of power cuts by June this year. As was envisaged, no rental power plants (RPP) could be commissioned as yet. The Division drew up an 'ambitious' generation plan last year to produce 1500 megawatt (MW) of electricity with rental plants within a span of a year.
According to the plan, as a report in the FE this week suggests, 500MW was scheduled to be generated by December 2009 and the rest 1000 MW by June 2010. Ironically, not a single MW electricity could be generated as of now and there is no possibility to generate it by June as no RPP has been commissioned as yet. The Power Division has admitted its failure to implement the plan and attributed the delay to procedural complexities.
With the surge in demand for electricity in Bangladesh -- estimated at 8.0 to 10 per cent a year -- the Power Division is unable to match the growing demand. The country is, at present, generating around 3800 MW of electricity against the demand for 5500 MW. Such a yawning gap between demand and supply points largely to the sheer inefficiency of the state-owned power agencies which are bedevilled with multi-faceted operational problems. These agencies make 'hollow' promises very often in order to cool down the angry and suffering customers. This is the practice since long. There is no denying that all successive governments had failed to give due attention to the power sector that resulted in poor growth of this all-important sector.
Since beginning of the summer, the capital city is in the grip of severe power cuts due to fall in electricity generation as the Petrobangla is unable to supply adequate gas to the power plants. Most parts of the city are having around three to five hours of load shedding during daytime as power generation has dropped by around 200MW on an average. The capital, during the evening hours too, suffers load shedding for around two to three hours, as electricity generation remains low. Other parts of the country continue to reel under power outages for about 10-16 hours. Power shortage and too frequent power cuts are, indeed, wreaking havoc in people's lives.
Even the government's daylight saving time (DST) formula to save electricity did not have the desired effect in improving the power situation. A cross section of the city dwellers, interviewed by the media, said the power supply situation did not improve even after introduction of the DST last year. Load shedding and power outages remained the same. The DST was, however, cancelled when it was witnessed that it had failed to bring about the desired result in the country.
In recent days, consumption of electricity at houses, offices, markets and other establishments has increased due to excessive summer heat while production of power remains low for the shortfall in gas pressure. Different gas-fired power plants having around 800-megawatt power generation capacity now sit idle due to the gas crisis. This is intensifying the overall power load shedding, which tends to hover between 1,200 MW and 1,500 MW daily -- which is one third of the country's power demand. Trend suggests that there was no possibility of getting respite from the load shedding and power outages immediately.
Without ensuring sufficient electricity for the countrymen, the government is again contemplating raising the prices of electricity. The move is, what the authorities contend, aimed at offsetting possible losses for purchasing 'high-cost electricity' from unsolicited fuel oil-based rental power plants. Only in March this year, the government had hiked electricity tariff by up to 7.0 per cent. Now, a new hike in a span of a few months is feared to fuel public anger. The Power Division plans to raise the tariffs by 8.0 to 10 per cent this time.
When the power tariff was raised in March this year, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission {BERC) justified the hike saying that the systems loss in power sector had come down significantly. If that is the case, there is every reason to believe that the authorities should go for reducing the tariff, instead of hiking it. The systems loss in the country's power sector, one of the highest in the world, had gone abnormally high during most of the previous governments due to unabated irregularities and mismanagement by the state power agencies. Media reports say electricity pilferage is still going on and unauthorised power connections are still being reported from various corners of the country. In a recent report, a multilateral capital donor agency has mentioned that the country suffers a loss of $1.0 billion in annual power output, which is 2.0 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), due to inefficiency in the power sector.
Electricity is a fundamental right of the citizens. It is a critical input for development of any nation. At times, power tariff hike may be necessary to ensure stable and sustainable supply. And the government can also choose to do so, as and when necessary, provided it is for the public welfare. However, the move for affecting a fresh hike to power tariff has now come at a time when the entire power sector remains chronically inefficient due to years of neglect. Without improving the situation in power sector, it will not be a rational choice to force the citizens to pay for a service that they seldom get. The government needs to dedicate its full attention to generate more electricity in conformity with the country's huge development needs. szkhan@dhaka.net