Load shedding has increased along with the intense heat, disrupting life in Kurigram. Alongside hampered commercial production, consumers are suffering in the heat.
Many are expressing their frustration on social media. However, the power division says they are forced to impose load shedding as the supply has dropped to half the demand.
Trolling about the power cuts has started on social media.
Mizanur Rahman, a teacher, wrote on his Facebook account on Friday night: “Since evening, Babaji (electricity) has gone for the fifth time!”
As soon as the power goes out, posts like “Mama (Electricity) gelo” (Uncle is gone) or “Aatke rakha gelo na, abar chole gelo” (Couldn’t be stopped, it went away again) are being shared.
Customers suffer due to load shedding
Sujon Mia, a workshop businessman in Kurigram city, said, “The electricity goes out every hour. Sometimes, load shedding continues for two consecutive hours. It is becoming impossible to work in the shop. If this continues, we will suffer loss.”
Residents in residential areas and small to medium businesses dependent on electricity are in a severe predicament due to the load shedding. Many are angry as household chores reliant on electricity are being disrupted. Unrestrained load shedding is also ongoing in rural electricity transmission lines.
In many areas under its jurisdiction, customers receive electricity for only a few hours at night. Consequently, customers in both urban and rural areas are expressing their frustration.
Meanwhile, farmers have had to irrigate their Aman fields due to the lack of rain over the past few weeks. However, the irrigation systems are being disrupted due to power outages. Since most of the irrigation project customers are under rural electricity, the cultivation of Aman is being affected by load shedding. Many farmers are resorting to using diesel-powered shallow engines for irrigation.
Frustrated customers are going for immediate power solutions like IPS. However, they are also doubtful about charging the IPS batteries due to routine load shedding. In this situation, customers demand a quick normalization of the power situation.
Allocation halved amidst rising demand
The local power division says the allocation has fallen to half compared to the demand. As a result, they are forced to conduct load shedding every hour. The power division cites national production shortages as the reason for the reduced allocation.
The power division says that electricity is generated from five types of power plants, including government, rental, and quick rental, and supplied to the national grid.
However, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) supplies fuel to all plants. Currently, production is being hampered. They are forced to do load shedding as they receive less power than demanded.
The Northern Electricity Supply Company (NESCO) Kurigram office reports that the total demand for five upazilas in the district connected to the Tagraihat Grid is about 70 to 80MW.
However, only 38 to 45MW are allocated. In Kurigram city, under NESCO's jurisdiction, there are about 33,000 customers, and the current demand is 13MW. Against this demand, they are receiving a maximum of 7MW.
Therefore, to cover the deficit, they have to do load shedding. Additionally, the duration of load shedding is prolonged when the supply is shut down through SCADA operations by the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC).
Atifur Rahman, executive engineer of NESCO, Kurigram, said: “The allocation is half, sometimes even less than half of the demand. Hence, load shedding is ongoing. Whether the situation will improve soon can only be stated by higher authorities.”
Mohitul Islam, general manager of Kurigram-Lalmonirhat Palli Biddut Samiti, said: “We have about 500,000 customers in Kurigram. We are also receiving less supply than the demand. As a result, 30 to 35% load shedding is ongoing in our transmission lines.”
He said that production-related personnel could comment on the improvement of the situation.