Power outage is taking its heavy toll on trade, business and economy through squeezing industrial production, say businesses and economists who also appear concerned about Bangladesh's trade competitiveness being dented.
Businesses said Thursday the on-again, off-again power supply cut production in a range between 30 and 60 per cent that seriously concerned them about maintaining the shipment time for global trade.
As there is no immediate respite from the electricity load shedding, it would affect the country's competitiveness by escalating cost of doing business, too, they fear and call upon the policymakers to resolve the ongoing power crisis.
Policymakers and officials engaged in power generation and distribution blame sudden shortage of primary energy, especially gas, for the deficit between electricity demand and generation.
Executive president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Mohammad Hatem said the problem badly hurt the backward-linkage units as the production of knitting, spinning and dyeing factories dropped 50 per cent for not getting uninterrupted supply of electricity from captive power plants because of the gas shortage.
As a result, they could not get adequate volume of cotton and fabrics. So, the sewing factories are not getting required volume of fabrics to make the final products.
He said the sewing unit could not continue production because of the load shedding. There is generator as back-up but generator needs a break after an hour.
"So, the whole supply chain is heavily disrupted, which is not good sign at a time when global buyers started flocking in here from China and Vietnam," says the export-industry leader, on a note of anxiety.
Mr Hatem requests the government to do load shedding in a particular area with early announcement and it would allow the industry players to take alternative arrangements to avoid the pains.
"But we need uninterrupted supply of power for 8-10 hours. It could be from 11:00am to 9:00pm or from 12noon to 10:00pm, or whatever," he adds.
President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) Mohammad Ali Khokon rues the power crisis comes as a severe blow to their industries with disruption to production on a large scale.
"One thing I can say right at the moment is the situation takes a turn for the worse. We will sit with the policymakers shortly after the Eid over the sudden problem as we are now concentrating on paying wages and festival allowances to the workers," he says.
President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Md. Jashim Uddin urges the government to ensure uninterrupted power supply to industrial plants for undisrupted production.
He suggests rationing electricity to deal with the recent electricity crisis "giving industry priority to continue its production for the sake of the economy".
Professor at the Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Engineering (PMRE) of BUET Dr M Tamim says gas reserves must be explored to minimise electricity production costs.
Petrobangla is not taking any initiative for domestic gas exploration while foreign companies like Chevron are extracting gas successfully in the Bibiyana gas-field, according to him.
"We need to shift our policy as shortage of primary energy is the biggest problem in the power sector here," he says.
He opines that the government is prioritizing import of fuels instead of domestic gas mining because of which the problems related to gas-field and system loss are not being solved.
Founder and Chairman of Policy Exchange of Bangladesh Dr M Masrur Reaz notes the power crisis comes at a time when the economy is already under pressure because of growing inflation, volatile exchange rate that has raised the cost of production and business.
"The electricity shortage-related pains will add more in the escalated costs," he says.
The economist feels that economies in Europe, the country's major export destination, are probably heading for a recession in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.
"If it happens, buyers would offer lesser price of the products, which would not be a good thing," he says.
Mr Reaz thinks the power crisis is caused because the government cannot import large quantity of LNG due to its unprecedented price surge on the global market.
"If the government moves to import the costly energy, it will put huge pressure on our reserves. We're paying the price of neglecting securing a long-term and stable supply of fuels at affordable price. We should have signed long-term contracts for 5 years or 10 years," he says.
BSS adds: The government has imposed restriction on all sorts of illumination until further order in order to save electricity.
The Cabinet Division issued an order in this regard on Thursday.
"In view of abnormal price hike of fuel globally, the government has requested all to refrain from illumination at social functions, community centres, shopping malls, shops, offices and residential houses until further order to save electricity," said the Cabinet Division.
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