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Published : 22 Apr 2026, 12:20 PM
The load shedding situation in the Chattogram Metropolitan Area and its surrounding Upazilas has taken an alarming turn at the start of the sweltering summer months. Customers in different parts of the port city claim they are experiencing six to seven hours of power outages every day.
The city's Enayet Bazar area experienced four power outages from morning to night on Tuesday. Each time, the power was out for at least an hour.
The city's Firingibazar Shibbari area experienced five power outages from Tuesday morning to 8pm. Binoy Bhowmik, a resident of the area, said that sometimes the outage lasted for an hour, sometimes for an hour and a half.
City residents have been living with regular power outages for the past week. In addition to disrupting regular household work amid the intense heat, it is also causing suffering for children and the elderly at home.
Rural areas are experiencing even more load shedding than the city. The outages are more severe from afternoon to night. The lack of electricity in the sweltering heat only piles on the suffering. Students taking their Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams are facing particular difficulties.
Officials from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) say that load shedding is being carried out as the demand for power from the national grid exceeds the supply.
There are 24 power plants in the PDB Chattogram distribution area. Of these, six are state-run, while the remaining 18 are privately owned.
There are two coal-fired plants in Moheshkhali’s Matarbari and Banshkhali, five are gas-fired, one is hydroelectric, and two are solar powered. The remaining power plants run on fuel oil, particularly furnace oil.
The power generation capacity of these plants is more than 4,600MW. But, due to maintenance complications and fuel oil and gas shortages, most of the power plants are not able to run at even half of their capacity.
The Chattogram Power Distribution Zone (South) consists of Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban. The average daily demand for electricity in this region is 1,300-1,400MW. Though it meets the power demands of many other parts of the country, Chattogram receives less than power than it requires from the national grid.
PDB Chattogram Supervising Engineer (Operation and Conservation) AKM Mamunul Bashar said, "We have a power crisis, which is why we have to do regular load shedding in cities and villages. Due to the oil and gas crisis, power generation has also decreased.”
On Monday, the off-peak hour (11am) power generation was 2,152MW, and the peak hour (7 pm) generation was 2,349MW. In contrast, there was load shedding of 67MW during the day and 109MW at night.
On Sunday, the daytime generation dropped to 2,009MW, and the evening volume was 2,342MW. That night, against 1,585MW of demand in the Chattogram region, 1,458MW of electricity was delivered. This means, the amount of load shedding was 127 MW.
Last Friday, the peak hour power generation from the centres in Chattogram was 1885MW, and it dropped during the off-peak hour to 1,380MW. Load shedding was 90MW in the morning and 84MW in the evening.
On Thursday morning, power production dropped to 1,011MW, and it went up to 1,804MW in the evening. That day, load shedding was 123MW and dropped to 67MW at night.
Apr 15 saw the most load shedding in the past week with 170MW in the evening. The PDB says there has been 80-170MW of load shedding every day for the past week, day and night. But consumers believe the amount is even higher than on paper.
Kajal De, a resident of Kelishahar village in Patiya Upazila, said that the power is out for about seven to eight hours every day.
PDB Chittagong Distribution Zone Chief Engineer Md Kamal Uddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com, “The power situation in Chattogram is the same as in the rest of the country. The electricity generated from the plants in Chattogram is connected to the national grid and supplied to us according to our needs. If we do not get sufficient supply to meet demand, we engage in load shedding.”
A PDB Chattogram official said, on condition of anonymity, that power generation in Chattogram plants has decreased due to the oil and gas crisis, and they are not able to produce according to their capacity.
He said that two units of the 420MW capacity of the Raozan Thermal Power Plant are closed due to lack of gas. Two to three of the five units of the Kaptai Hydropower Plant are regularly shut due to lack of water.
“The Dohazari and Hathazari 100MW peaking power plants, which run on furnace oil, are generating half of their capacity. Only the coal-fired power plants in Matarbari and Banshkhali are able to generate electricity at a level close to capacity during peak and off-peak hours.”
Dohazari 100MW Peaking Power Plant Manager Md Abdul Mannan told bdnews24.com that production had decreased over the last four to five days due to the oil shortage.
“Four of our six engines are running at full swing. Production at the other two has been suspended for maintenance.”
Stating that each engine generates 17MW of electricity, he said: “Furnace oil has arrived, now our production will increase.”
Asked why there is need for load shedding when the plants in Chattogram generate more electricity than the region consumes, Chief Engineer Kamal said that the amount of electricity to be supplied to each area is determined nationally.
“After the electricity is generated here, it is directly connected to the national grid. Then, from there, it is supplied according to the demand in each region.”
Another PDB official said, “Even though there are more power plants in Chattogram, there may not be any in any other district of the country. Electricity will have to be provided to those areas as well. Again, more electricity is provided to the metropolitan area than to the sub-districts. That is why load shedding is more common in rural areas.”
He expressed hope that once the gas and furnace oil crisis is overcome, the power generation of the plants in Chattogram will bounce back and the load shedding will ease.
