Staff Reporter :
Overdue government payments and LC opening crisis due to forex crunch are paralysing the country’s ability to import raw fuels for electricity generation which may hamper its production in the upcoming summer.
Sources in the power division said, the estimated maximum demand for power in this summer will be 17,800 MW which is projected to be higher by 11 per cent compared to last year.
To meet the demand during the ongoing irrigation season the power production capacity has also increased at the same rate, claimed the power division.
Generally, the demand for power begins to increase in March. This trend continues up until September. Due to the monsoon, the demand falls somewhat in June-July. The demand for power reaches its peak in April.
According to business insiders, like last year, this time too, a large part of the capacity may remain idle due to shortfall in the supply of coal, Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and fuel oil (diesel, furnace oil) as the power and energy sector has been struggling with a dollar crisis and debt burden.
It is evident from the current power picture that a number of private oil-fired power-plant owners have been forced to stop importing furnace oil for complexities in opening letter of credit (LC) and delays in payment of dues by the government, thus infusing a sense of fear of the longer load shedding in the common people.
Currently, the Power Development Board (PDB) owes Tk 250 billion to the private power plants which are active in production.
PDB owes Tk 80 billion in gas bill to Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) along with USD 500 million dollars (about Tk 55 billion) to Adani of India alone.
Likewise, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) owes USD 270 million dollars (nearly Tk 30 billion) to foreign suppliers.
Experts said trust of energy suppliers will decrease if the outstanding dues keep piling up. They don’t want to make long-term agreements. They make delays in supplying fuel.
In the beginning of the year, PDB officials said from the beginning of the year they disclosed the necessary requirement of dollars for importing coal and fuel oil for the power plants.
Till last December of FY24, their requirement was USD 3.73 billion dollars for six months. The officials estimated that the requirement will be higher in the next six months.
However, the PDB is not getting required dollars. As a result, the organization is not able to regularly pay the price for the imported electricity.
Addressing the government’s huge debt load, sector insiders blamed the dependency on imports for the crisis in the power and energy sector.
They observed the government has followed the path of import instead of emphasising on gas exploration, along with huge capacity charge propelled the present debt burden.
Meanwhile, foreign currency worth USD 12 billion is required for the energy sector. It is difficult to manage such a huge amount of dollars, they added.
However, the government is set to hike electricity and energy prices by 34 to 70 paisa per unit from the first week of March, putting the common people in trouble ahead of holy Ramadan which coincides with summer and irrigation season.
The government increased electricity prices in the country three times last year by 15 per cent.
Private research organisation Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) senior research director Khandaker Golam Moazzem said the financial condition in the power and energy sector is in bad shape. PDB is becoming a white elephant for paying capacity charges for private power plants.
The government may save financially by raising the price of power and energy, but the crisis will not be solved, Khandaker Golam Moazzem added.