None of the power plants in the country uses hundred percent of production capacity.

Energy specialists feel the major reason for this is the unplanned operation of power plants. They say that since production and supply are not happening in a planned way, the price of power remains high.

A recent Power Development Board (PDB) report shows that plants cannot use 50 percent of the production capacity. But when deals are made with power plants, they take into consideration 88 percent plant load factor. Plant load factor is the amount of power actually produced on average.

The PDB report stated that in the last three years, power plants could not run as per full capacity.

BUET professor Dr Izaz Hossain said: “If a plant is sitting idle the whole year then the expenditure to build it is a loss. If our plants are inoperative and we import power then the equipment at local companies lose capacity.”

If a 100 megawatt centre runs only on 10 percent plant load factor then only 10 megawatt power is added.

Former DG of Power Cell, Rahmat Ullah, said: “Even if a plant is sitting idle, there are costs involved; Investors are incurring loss and the public also pay for the added expenses.”

Saying that the government is establishing plants without any plans, he observed: “We now have more plants than needed; on the other hand, we are importing power though there’s no demand.”

Implementing such unplanned projects was illogical and unacceptable, he said.