Load-shedding No hope of improvement before Nov: Nasrul

Staff Reporter :
There was no hope of improvement in the present load shedding situation before November as gas could not be imported.
Besides, due to the lack of adequate fuel supply, the government is now operating some power plants on an alternative basis.
Meanwhile, people across the country including the residents of capital Dhaka are the worst sufferers due to load shedding.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral resources Nasrul Hamid on Monday made the remark while talking to reporters at his ministry- referring to the 5-6 hour long load shedding throughout the day in and around Dhaka.
“We keep some power generation units closed during daytime while others are shut down at night. That’s why the extent of load shedding has increased’, he said.
Nasrul Hamid said that the current load shedding situation would continue for some more days and things might improve from November.
The State Minister had earlier made an assurance that power supply situation would improve after September and there would be no load shedding from the first week of October.
When attention was drawn to his previous statement, Nasrul Hamid said that the demand for gas from industries had increased that prompted the government to divert some supply to them from the power plants. Production in industries has increased after pandemic, he said.
Nasrul Hamid also hinted that the situation in energy supply might persist for a longer period as the global situation was different again.
The government is trying to improve the situation, he said. He also reiterated his call to people to be more patient regarding power and gas supply.
People in rural areas are worst affected due to load shedding as such power outage happening every one hour.
On July 2, there was a load shedding of 500 MW and on the same day, 12,741 MW of electricity was supplied against 12, 241 MW demand.
And, on July 3, the load shedding jumped to 1,500 MW and on the day, the demand was 13,500 MW across the country while 11,550 MW electricity was produced on the day.
On July 4, the load shedding was reduced to 1,400 MW. And on that day, the demand for electricity in the country was 12,948 MW while 11,548 MW was supplied.
According to multiple sources, crisis may loom large as the gas price is increasing in the international market, while the production cost of electricity is also increasing in the country following the price hike of the gas.