The country's overall electricity and natural gas production fell drastically over the past several days following a low demand and sloth business activities centering the eleventh parliamentary elections on December 30.
The state-run Petrobangla and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) 'squeezed' the country's overall natural gas and electricity production over the past several days amid lower demand.
Overall natural gas output on the election day was only 1,812 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), which was around 60 per cent of the previous day's output of around 2,976 mmcfd, according to Petrobangla's statistics.
Of the total natural gas output, 1,543 mmcfd was produced from the domestic gas-fields and 269 mmcfd from re-gasified LNG (liquefied natural gas).
The country's overall electricity production was 3,894 megawatt (MW) on the day, which was only 22 per cent of the total installed electricity generation capacity of 17,685 MW.
Natural gas and electricity production started peaking up after the election day, but the outputs are yet to reach the pre-election day level.
Natural gas production was 2,896 mmcfd on January 02, which was around 90 per cent of the total capacity.
Electricity output, however, was hovering around 6,367 MW on January 02, which was only around one-third of the total installed capacity.
Natural gas output peaked up to around the capacity level, as the country does not have excess natural gas production capacity, said a senior Petrobangla official.
But the electricity output still remained significantly lower than the capacity, as the country has excess power generation ability, said a senior BPDB official.
Lower electricity demand during winter also led to lower electricity output.
BPDB has been keeping the country's overall electricity generation much below the installed capacity for long under a 'rationing' system.
Authorities of some power plants are asked to suspend their operations, and some plants are kept under maintenance, he added.
Although the plants have been out of operation, BPDB has been counting capacity payment to them, as they are ready to supply electricity.
The capacity payment is a sort of penalty, which BPDB is bound to pay to the power plant owners, if the government fails to purchase a certain portion of the electricity readily available.
According to BPDB's statistics, the countrywide electricity generation during the evening peak hours on December 18 was 7,865 MW, just 44.47 per cent of the total installed capacity of 17,685 MW.
Power generation during the off-peak hours (day-time power generation) on the day was 6,301 MW. It was only 35.62 per cent of the total installed capacity, according to BPDB.
The country's overall electricity production on November 18 was also below the half mark of the total installed capacity. The power generation then stood at 8,656 MW and 6,986 MW during peak hours and off-peak hours respectively.
Electricity generation on October 18 stood at 9,842 MW and 8,103 MW during peak hours and off-peak hours respectively. The figures were significantly lower than the installed capacity of 17,043 MW that time.
The figures on a day in September were 11,363 MW and 9,440 MW against the same installed capacity.
The figures on August 18, a summer day, hovered around 10,204 MW and 8,916 MW during peak hours and off-peak hours respectively against the installed capacity of 16,102 MW.
The power generation hit its high of 11,184 MW and 9,373 MW during peak and off-peak hours respectively on July 18 against the then installed capacity of 15,953 MW.
BPDB is the lone buyer of electricity from the power producers across the country. The state-run entity then sells electricity to the distribution companies which supply it to the end-users.
