Power supply was snapped in different parts of the country despite a 2,000-megawatt (MW) electricity production cut due to low demand in national grid disrupting celebration of Eid-ul-Azha.
Power distribution companies said glitches in transmission cables caused the disruption while users blamed authorities’ lackluster approach for fixing it.
“Usually we produce 11,000 MW, which was cut down to 9,000MW as demand was low during Eid-ul-Azha,” Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Director Saiful Islam told Bangla Tribune.
He, however, blamed the distribution companies for load shedding.
“Fault in the transmission lines of Palli Bidyut Samity (rural power supply distribution) may have caused power cuts in rural area,” Islam said before adding, “We provide the electricity as per the distribution companies’ demand.”
Usually load shedding is counted if a power cut continues for more than five minutes whereas when it continues for an indefinite period it’s considered as ‘fault in transmission cables’.
“Power had been out for nearly 22 hours each in two days prior to Eid-ul-Azha, which was somewhat normal on the Eid day,” said Parvez Akter, who left Dhaka for his in-laws’ home in southern district of Barishal on Eid holidays.
Since the Eid, power has been hitting the areas for 4 to 5 hours every day.
“It’s only excuses what we get to hear when we report to the power company,” Akter told Bangla Tribune over mobile phone on Saturday afternoon.
Mizanur Rahman also suffered the same during spending holidays at his native island district of Bhola in the southern part of the country.
“No power for one or two hours every evening and the authorities have no solution to it as well” said Rahman, who celebrated Eid at Bhola’s Borhanganj Upazila.
A resident from northern district of Gaibandha’s Satitala area told Bangla Tribune power was out for nearly 12 hours on the night a day after Eid.
“When contacted the local REB office they informed that tree felling damaged the distribution cables and it took time to repair,” said the person, who preferred to go unnamed.
Several residents from the northern divisional district of Rangpur claimed that power was out twice in the city on the Eid day.
The scenario was worse outside the city, where it continued for hours.
Officials at the Rural Electrification Board (REB) admitted that glitches in transmission lines interrupted power supply in several places.
Despite a good power production scenario, meeting the supply of electricity becomes difficult against its growing demands, according to the REB officials.
The REB has taken several projects to overcome the fault in distribution lines.
Like other parts of the country, residents in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur, Rampura, Gendaria, Modhubag, and Mirpur areas experienced power cuts during the Eid holidays.
“Demand of electricity remains low in the city during Eid. So, load shedding should not happen,” Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) official Harun Or Rashid told Bangla Tribune.
According to this official, fault in distribution lines and technical glitch in transformer may cause some problems.
“We are taking immediate measures when we receive any allegation,” said Rashid, who is the executive director (operation) of DPDC.