Bangladesh suffers long power cuts amid worst heatwave in decades

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Abdur Rahman nearly fainted while pulling his rickshaw under the scorching sun in Bangladesh’s capital. “It is not possible to keep doing this in such weather,” he told Al Jazeera.

The slum in Dhaka where Rahman lives has had very little electricity at night in recent weeks.

“After a hard, tiring day, I went to sleep. Now my sleep is disturbed without a fan. I often wake up drenched in sweat,” he said.

A crippling power crisis has added to the misery of Bangladeshis as they succumb to the country’s longest heat wave in decades.

Tens of thousands of primary and secondary schools were closed by the government this week as temperatures in Dhaka rose to more than 40 degrees Celsius. Other cities, such as Rangpur, recorded a maximum of 41 degrees Celsius – the highest there since 1958.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department officials said they had not experienced such a prolonged heat wave since the country’s independence in 1971.

Earlier this week, operations at Bangladesh’s largest power station were suspended as the government is unable to import fuel due to a drop in foreign exchange reserves and the declining value of the Bangladeshi taka, which fell about 25 percent against the US dollar last year .

Freelance graphic designer Julfiqar Ali decided to move from Dhaka to Rangpur in northern Bangladesh four years ago, not only to avoid the capital’s skyrocketing cost of living, but also to return to the relative tranquility of his sleepy hometown .

“I work online and mainly take work assignments from clients in the United States and Europe. So it doesn’t really matter where I work as long as I have stable electricity and internet,” Ali told Al Jazeera. “And Rangpur had both, so it was a good idea for me to move there from Dhaka.”

However, in recent months, Ali has screwed up his decision. Rangpur’s electricity is so unstable that he has missed deadlines for many of his projects.

“Electricity isn’t even out for two to three hours, and if the power goes out, it stays on. In general, we get a maximum of eight to nine hours of electricity per day. I just can’t work in this situation,” Ali told Al Jazeera.

No immediate rest

Officials say the power crisis is likely to continue and may even worsen as a result of the financial crisis.

The country’s forex stock has fallen below $30 billion for the first time in seven years, according to the Bangladesh Bank. A year ago it was $46 billion.

The closure of the 1320 MW Payra power station, the largest in the country, due to coal shortages has only exacerbated the crisis.

While the government assured that the plant will be operational by the end of this month, a top official from the operating company, the North-West Power Generation Company (NWPGC), who requested anonymity told Al Jazeera it was “highly unlikely” .

At least 53 of the country’s 153 power plants have been closed in recent weeks for maintenance or a lack of fuel due to the dollar shortage, according to data from the state-owned Power Grid Company of Bangladesh.

Only 49 power plants are running at full capacity, while the remaining 51 still operating are running at half capacity due to fuel shortages, the data showed.

As a result, the South Asian nation of 170 million faces an unprecedented tax cut of about 2,500 megawatts, equivalent to what the country produced in the late 1990s.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina acknowledged the suffering of the people as a result of the blackout and said the intense heat wave has only exacerbated the situation.

“Who would have thought that the temperature would rise to 41 degrees?” she told a rally organized by the ruling Awami League party.

Hasina, also the country’s energy and energy minister, said her government has made deals with Qatar and Oman to buy fuel and has taken measures to import more coal.

“You have to be economical with electricity. We’re not alone. The whole world is facing a fuel crisis because of the war between Russia and Ukraine,” she said.

‘It’s only getting worse’

Bangladesh’s industries, including the crucial ready-made garment (RMG) sector, which accounts for more than 80 percent of export earnings, have been hit hard by the blackout.

Factory owners say the crisis has increased their production costs and forced them to reduce or postpone production.

Sazzad Hossain, owner of an RMG company, told Al Jazeera that the machines at his factory are shut down for hours because of the frequent power cuts.

“We work with a deadline to make the shipments and if we miss one, the buyers don’t pay us,” he said.

Hossain said he was forced to choose a more expensive alternative to meet shipping deadlines: charter a flight and ship it by air.

“As a result, there is no margin and sometimes even a loss. It essentially limits our export earnings, which will only exacerbate the ongoing dollar crisis,” he said.

Shamsul Alam, energy adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said that the energy crisis will not be solved in the near future.

“The government has been saying this for a year, but the fact is it’s only getting worse,” he told Al Jazeera.

Alam said that the electricity crisis is not only due to the war in Ukraine, but also to the shortcomings in the government’s energy policy.

“We’ve already put too many eggs in one basket because our electricity production relies heavily on natural gas,” he said, highlighting that at least 52 percent of the country’s electricity is produced by using natural gas.

“Reserves in the gas fields are dwindling and the government, instead of focusing on new gas field explorations, has opted for the costly LNG import,” he said.

Alam said dependence on LNG is dangerous as events such as a war can disrupt the market and cause frequent rises in the price.

“Our government should have opted for a better energy mix to reduce dependence on a single fuel,” he said.

In Rangpur, meanwhile, there is no immediate relief for graphic designer Ali.

“Power failure not only affects my work, but also my health. The excessive heat makes me feel fatigued all day long. And I can’t cool down by turning on the fan,” he said.