Power outage, low voltage persist despite lower demand

Frequent outages coupled with low voltage of electricity have now been rampant across the country despite lower demand of power following fall in temperature due to the recent rainfalls.
State-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) says that the country's average electricity generation is hovering around 6,500 megawatts (mw).
But load-shedding is continuing as technical glitches have eaten up around 1,873 mw of electricity generation as of Monday.
Technical faults in the electricity transmission systems are creating low- voltage problems in the user ends, a senior BPDB official admitted.
But the problem is acute in rural areas across the country, he said.
Natural gas crisis affected electricity generation of 918 mw, said the official.
State-owned power entities are enforcing load-shedding at least three to four times a day although Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had promised to limit it twice a day, consumers alleged.
Sometimes the load-shedding lingers for several hours, consumers from different areas across the country alleged.
Electric equipments are often damaged for frequent load-shedding and low voltage of electricity.
The backup power systems of the consumers like instant power system (IPS) fail to provide electricity in the absence of grid supply, said consumers.
Those systems don't get enough electricity to charge up batteries, they added.