Afroza Parveen, an official from a private firm, went to Shewrapara to buy two charger fans and a few charger torches.
She already has an Instant Power Supply (IPS), which she had earlier bought due to irregular electricity. But since load shedding is very frequent, the IPS cannot recharge itself fully after each load-shedding period.
Younus Rahman who was in the shop at the same time to buy an IPS. He said that it was quite impossible to work during the day as he could not sleep well at night due to constant power interruption.
Zainal Abedin, owner of Madina Electronics said he had sold around 350 charger fans last month, and even more torches.
In Tejgaon, Iqbal Ashraf was looking to buy charger lights. He has two IPSs at home – but even they are unable to provide sufficient lights for his daughter who is studying for her HSC exams.
An electronics goods shop in the area sold over 100 IPSs in March.
The power crisis is particularly effecting Mirpur, Badda, Mohammadpur, Basabo, Jatrabari and Old Dhaka.
Sarwar Alam from Mirpur Shah Ali Bagh area said the loadshedding was supposed to continue for two hours, but it often went on for much longer.
"The power is often absent for as long as four hours and sometimes it is only comes back for one and half hours."
STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORITIES
Power Development Board chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir said he "could not deny" there was a significant gap in supply of electricity.
"Many of the plants can't be operated due to gas crisis. So we have to manage the gap with load management, which is implemented through load-shedding."
He said process is underway to increase power generation by diverting gas from several fertiliser factories.
"The situation might also improve if the consumers give up some of their luxuries," Kabir added.
Power generation on Sunday evening stood at 3970MW against a peak demand of 5300MW. However, generation of 210MW was reduced on Monday noon as the unit at the Ghorashal plant caught fire.
Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), which covers Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Moghbazar, Dhaka (South) and Narayanganj, had a demand of 1200MW, against which it got only 633MW on Sunday.
Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) covers Mirpur, Shyamoli, Gulshan, Badda, Dhaka (North) and Tongi areas. Against a daily demand of around 585MW in these areas, average supply is 260MW only.
Saleh Ahmed, DECSO managing director, noted that "The gas-based industries are currently using electricity due to gas shortage, which is putting further pressure on power consumption," he said.
DPDC managing director Ataul Masud said that there was no concrete solution to this problem until gas supplies increase.
Another distribution company, Rural Electrification Board (REB), is only getting 1200MW to 1250MW against its peak demand of 2500MW during the boro season.
REB chairman Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam said, "We're getting half of what we need. We're forced to manage the supplies, mainly for irrigation, with this."
He said, "We've to continue this way until we can find an alternative."
DIRECTIONS IGNORED
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission in a circular issued on Mar 30 barred use of air conditioners during peak hours from 6pm to 11pm daily until further notice for all residences, private and public offices, businesses and shops—with hospitals, restaurants and hotels exempt.
It also said that AC temperature regulators cannot be lowered to less than 25 degrees Centigrade during off-peak hours.
But the direction appears to have had limited or in fact no effect, concerned personnel said.
A BERC official of the power division could not give any idea of how many kilowatts would be saved if this directive was complied with. Nor could any official in Dhaka Power Distribution Company provide an estimate.
However the DESCO managing director said, "Demand for power in the capital increases by 150MW during the hot days. Only 25MW of it is caused due to fans, but the remaining is due to air conditioners.
The PDB chairman said, "The directive might not be very effective till now. But things will change if everyone is aware of consuming power."
LOADSHEDDING TIMING WILL BE CHANGED
Kabir said the decision to impose two hours loadshedding after every two hours could be changed as it was creating negative impacts.
"It is good for us if we can do it in two-hour period. But we're having negative reactions from many corners.
"So decision was made to change the timings."
The PDB said loadshedding was in two hour period from 7am to 11pm on Sunday, but later at night (11pm-7am) it was made one-hourly.
NO ELECTRICITY, NO WATER
Due to lack of sufficient power supply, the water pumps of Dhaka WASA cannot work properly, which as a result, reduces the level of water supply.
When there is no power, household owners cannot pull up water when it is available.
A house owner at Mohammadpur said, "We can't draw water for the last four days. When the supply water does comes, there's no power to draw it.
"Moreover, when there is some water in the reservoir, we can't use the motor pumps, as they have broken down.
"We've to bring the water from the fifth floor with buckets," he added.
WASA officials said there are generators only for 213 pumps out of 546. The rest are run by ordinary electricity.
Source: thedailystar.net
