Power Crisis
CAUSES OF POWER CRISIS IN BANGLADESH AND MEASURES TO ERADICATE THE PROBLEM
INTRODUCTION
1. Electricity is the air and water of modern civilization. With the invention of electricity human life, culture and society has dramatically changed. Present day society demands electricity as the basic need in every moment of human life. It plays a decisive role in agricultural mechanization, industrialization, urbanization etc. Without electricity, communities are unable to participate in the benefits of modern advances and are left isolated and literally in the dark. The per capita energy consumption of a country reflects the level of progress and economic status. The present per capita electricity consumption for our country is about 6% of the world average. Having a consumption rate of 150.97 k ilowatt hours, Bangladesh is one of the least developed countries of the world. Almost 49% people have access to electricity. This is indeed a much low rate.
2. A balanced power system has three factors. Those are generation, transmission and distribution. To ensure a stable situation in a country, these three factors must go equally side by side. The generation must meet continuously increasing demand with quality supply and reliability. Presently, Bangladesh produces up to 4,500 megawatts of electricity a day which is almost 1,500 megawatts short of demand. Again, distribution of power between East and West Zone is uneven. There is always a flow of power from East to West causing huge transmission losses. This displays the poor condition of all three factors. Broadly the causes of this power crisis can be- lack of an efficient power system master plan, slowness in execution, lack of harmony in the progress of three factors of the system, system loss, corruption, poor administration, lack of effective motivation and supervision, consumer’s behaviour etc.
3. Each and every year we are losing at least a handsome amount of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to the shortage of
INTRODUCTION
1. Electricity is the air and water of modern civilization. With the invention of electricity human life, culture and society has dramatically changed. Present day society demands electricity as the basic need in every moment of human life. It plays a decisive role in agricultural mechanization, industrialization, urbanization etc. Without electricity, communities are unable to participate in the benefits of modern advances and are left isolated and literally in the dark. The per capita energy consumption of a country reflects the level of progress and economic status. The present per capita electricity consumption for our country is about 6% of the world average. Having a consumption rate of 150.97 k ilowatt hours, Bangladesh is one of the least developed countries of the world. Almost 49% people have access to electricity. This is indeed a much low rate.
2. A balanced power system has three factors. Those are generation, transmission and distribution. To ensure a stable situation in a country, these three factors must go equally side by side. The generation must meet continuously increasing demand with quality supply and reliability. Presently, Bangladesh produces up to 4,500 megawatts of electricity a day which is almost 1,500 megawatts short of demand. Again, distribution of power between East and West Zone is uneven. There is always a flow of power from East to West causing huge transmission losses. This displays the poor condition of all three factors. Broadly the causes of this power crisis can be- lack of an efficient power system master plan, slowness in execution, lack of harmony in the progress of three factors of the system, system loss, corruption, poor administration, lack of effective motivation and supervision, consumer’s behaviour etc.
3. Each and every year we are losing at least a handsome amount of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to the shortage of