Dhaka : Bangladesh is facing its most severe power crisis in two decades, with a shortage of around 3,000–3,500 MW forcing several parts of the country to endure power cuts lasting up to 10 hours a day. At Barishal General Hospital, nurses were forced to use mobile phone flashlights to treat patients after the backup generator ran out of diesel. Power outages at the hospital were reportedly occurring every one to two hours.
“I have never experienced this level of load-shedding,” said a resident of Dhaka. Another Bangladeshi said that the frequent and extended periods of power cuts reminded him of the 90s when people went to buy kerosene for lanterns. Go to Facebook and search ‘Bangladesh power cut’, ‘Dhaka load shedding’ or ‘Bangladesh blackout’ and you will find thousands of people discussing how bad the electricity supply situation is.
Businesses and factories across Bangladesh. What began as a problem in the power sector has now spilt into almost every part of the economy, threatening industrial production and the country’s crucial export sector. The severity of the crisis is being reflected in social media posts across Bangladesh. One person, who said they had lived in the capital, Dhaka, for more than 7 years, wrote in a post on Facebook on August 28, “I have never experienced this level of load shedding before.”
Posting on Facebook on August 13, described the situation as the “peak load-shedding era”, saying they were going without electricity for four to five hours every day. “Where did all the electricity go?” the person asked, pointing to the return of frequent outages after what they described as relatively stable electricity supply in Dhaka in recent years. “Do you remember those days of the 90s?… We had to buy kerosene from the shop and light the kerosene lamp to spend the night,” the person wrote on Facebook, adding, “Time has changed, but some realities seem to be coming back”.
The shortfall in electricity supply is between 3,000 MW to 3,500 MW, according to reports. In 2022, when Bangladesh faced a shortfall, it was just 750 MW. It was in 2007 that Bangladesh faced a power crisis of this magnitude. Electricity generation had failed to keep pace with rapidly rising demand, resulting in widespread and prolonged load-shedding. The country’s power shortfall had then reached around 1,345 MW, according to historical data from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).
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