Dhaka Wednesday, Oct 4, 2023
Power Sector
The government’s top policy makers on power have been briefed about the outcome of meeting the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board has recently held with a visiting team of Adani Group to discuss the coal pricing issue under its power purchase deal with the Indian conglomerate. According to official sources on Tuesday, the officials of the BPDB briefed Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and other top policymakers about the... » 
The government has raised retail power prices by 5 percent, the third hike in less than two months. The new rates will be effective from March billing, according to a notice published by the Power Division on Tuesday. On a weighted average, the prices have increased to Tk 8.24 per unit from Tk 7.25 set for February on Jan 31. Before that, retail power prices were raised by 5 percent... »
The cost of power generation at the 1,320MW Rampal Power Plant is now estimated to be Tk 14-15 per unit, instead of Tk 7-8 per unit estimated when the project was taken up. “The recent hike in coal prices in the global market has pushed up the generation cost. If the coal prices decline, the generation cost will come down rationally,” said Subhash Chandra Pandey, the project director of the... »
South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun has visited the project site in Matarbari Coal-powered Plant to observe the work being done by 75 Korean engineers and to encourage them. Report UNB He was briefed on the progress by project managers, listened to the challenges faced by the South Korean firm POSCO E&C, and discussed solutions to overcome them. During the visit on Monday, Ambassador Lee said that South Korean... »
The Rampal thermal power plant resumed production on Wednesday night after a month of closure due to a coal shortage. At 11:03 pm on Wednesday a unit of the power plant was restarted, according to Anwarul Azim, deputy general manager of the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited. The plant generated 100 MW of power at night, 200 MW in the morning and will move up to 400 MW in accordance... » 
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid today said that the electricity under the agreement with India’s Adani’s power will come into Bangladesh in the first week of March. “There is no concern about Adani’s electricity import and discussion on Adani’s power is baseless,” he told the journalist at his ministry. Nasrul Hamid said Bangladesh will get the electricity from the India Company at competitive market price,... » 
India has said it is not involved in any agreement between the Bangladesh government and Adani Power for procurement of electricity from the Indian conglomerate’s plant in Jharkhand. “I don’t have anything on that. I understand you are referring to a deal between a sovereign government and an Indian company. I am not aware of it. I don’t even think we are involved in this,” said Indian Ministry of External... »
The government has raised the prices of power at both the wholesale and retail levels as Bangladesh grapples with the prospect of an intensifying cost of living crisis. Retail prices have gone up 5 percent for the second time in a month, while wholesale prices are seeing an increase of 8.06 percent, according to a notice issued on Tuesday. The new rates will be effective from the February billing. Based... » 
Khulna division has been experiencing acute power cuts even in the winter due to suspension of power production at Rampal Power Plant amid shortage of coal caused by the dollar crisis. The production came to a halt on January 14, only after 27 days the coal-fired plant in Bagerhat started electricity generation by adding 660 megawatt of electricity to the national grid produced from its first unit. Khulna West Zone... »
The government has raised the electricity tariff by 5 percent at the retail level. Now the average tariff for all consumers will go up by Tk0.36 to Tk7.49 from Tk7.13, the Power Division said in a media statement Thursday. The tariff for lifeline consumers, who use up to 50 units (kwh) a month, was raised by Tk0.19 to Tk3.94 per unit from Tk3.75. The new tariff will be effective from... »