Photo: Collected
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a think tank, on Sunday (23 June) said that ongoing losses of the Power Development Board (PDB) will increase by 196 percent to Tk 18,000 crore by 2025 due to government mismanagement.
Even after increasing electricity prices and government subsidies, the PDB will incur huge losses, said CPD.
Research Director of CPD, Dr. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, said this while giving a presentation titled 'Power and Energy Sector in the National Budget FY 2024-24, Challenges and Proposed Measures’, held at Mohakhali BRAC in the capital on Sunday.
Independent MP AK Azad, Professor of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of BUET Dr. M Tamim, Rector of Bangladesh Power Management Institute Mohammad Alauddin, Director General of Power Cell Mohammad Hossain, Energy Advisor of Consumer Rights Organization CAB Professor Dr. Shamsul Alam, among others, spoke at the seminar.
CPD Executive Director Dr. Fahimda Khatun moderated the programme.
While presenting the main article on the topic, Dr Muazzem said that the government's plan to produce 60,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2041 is a very ambitious target. At that time, even with 25 percent additional reserve, a maximum of 35,000 MW of electricity is enough.
“Energy shortages due to overcapacity and constraints in distribution and transmission lines are not able to generate electricity as per demand. As a result, there is load shedding despite having surplus power capacity,” he said.
Again, a huge capacity charge has to be paid for the power plant's installation. As a result, PDB's losses are increasing. Along with this, the price of consumer electricity is also growing, he said.
Speakers said the government is bearing additional costs (capacity charge) for more than 16,000 MW of electricity even if it is not generating electricity. This capacity has become a headache for the country's economy.
Even if the country's power plants do not produce, they have to pay capacity charges. In the name of this charge, thousands of crores of taka are now going out of the government fund.
CPD’s Research Director Moazzem said that the electricity generation capacity in the country is now 30738MW. But the production is 14000 MW. Why is the production capacity being increased even if it is not being used?
He also said that the power generation capacity that the government has created now will not be needed even in 2030. In 6 years from today, the demand may reach 19400 MW. If a 25 percent reserve is considered, then 23252MW power capacity is required.
Despite the increase in capacity, there is load shedding in the country. The average load shedding is 1100 MW in summer. There is nothing clear about the power-fuel sector in the budget. Everyone is in the dark about what the government will do about this sector, he pointed out.
AK Azad MP said that the price has been increased claiming a supply of uninterrupted electricity and gas, but load shedding has not decreased.
“There is no electricity for 7 to 8 hours. The factory has to be run with diesel, fetching gas from CNG station. It has increased the cost. Many factories are closing down,” he added.
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