Residents across the capital are facing renewed disruption as frequent power cuts re-emerge during both day and night. The electricity crisis has hit peak evening hours particularly hard, with supply failing to keep pace with surging consumer demand across residential and commercial sectors.
Figures released by Power Grid Bangladesh PLC (PGBPLC) highlight a sharp deterioration in grid stability over recent days. On 22 August, peak evening electricity demand in the Dhaka zone reached 6,489 megawatts (MW). To manage the deficit, utility authorities were forced to execute 599 MW of load-shedding. Just 24 hours earlier, on 21 August, demand stood at 5,635 MW with a load-shedding deficit of 214 MW. Within a single day, the capital’s electricity demand expanded by 854 MW, whilst the supply deficit surged by 385 MW.
Grid statistics over a five-day period illustrate persistent instability across the capital network. On 20 August, a demand of 6,251 MW resulted in 554 MW of load-shedding during peak hours. The worst disruption within the 18–22 August window occurred on 19 August, when load-shedding peaked at 640 MW. By comparison, 18 August saw relatively mild disruption, with a demand of 6,184 MW requiring just 154 MW of power shedding.
Energy experts and sector officials attribute the growing deficit primarily to an acute national shortage of natural gas. Because gas-fired power generation plants across Bangladesh are receiving inadequate fuel allocations, they are unable to operate at full installed capacity. The resulting generation shortfall restricts total feed into the national grid, obliging distribution entities to enforce rolling blackouts to preserve systemic stability. Without an immediate resolution to upstream gas supply bottlenecks, power disruptions in the capital are likely to persist during peak demand windows.
