The question now arises – how much electricity Bangladesh requires and at what cost? Official and unofficial figures show Bangladesh hardly utilizes half of its installed power capacity, but each year government makes a hefty payment to power plants as "capacity cost" despite not utilizing the electricity. “Worsening overcapacity has significant implications for the BPDB’s (Bangladesh Power Development Board) finances as well as power tariffs,” said IEEFA’s Energy Finance Analyst Simon Nicholas. The plants are: Bibiyana-III 400MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Habiganj; Chittagong 100MW Power Plant Unit-2; Meghnaghat 104MW Power Plant in Narayanganj; Modhumoti 100MW Power Plant in Bagerhat; and upgradation of Sylhet 150MW Power Plant to 225MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Sylhet. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said recently that the electricity generation capacity reached to 25,235MW now (including captive power) which was 4,942MW in 2009.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 10, 2021 13:18 UTC