By Syed Shukur Ali Shuvo

DHAKA, Aug 10, 2025 (BSS) – With a steady rise in electricity consumption across the country, the interim government has now been attaching priority to ensuring stable power supply at affordable rates.

“After assuming the office, the government prioritized stable power supply across the country and it is now very much stable. We’re now working to ensure affordable rate for electricity,” Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Dr Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan told BSS here today.

He said the interim government has undertaken various initiatives to make the power and energy sector cost effective to give relief to the consumers across the country.

In this regard, the ministry reviewed contracts with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to remove capacity payment clauses—provisions that obligated the government to pay for power generation capacity even when no electricity is actually supplied to the national grid, he added.

The adviser said the government also officially repealed the "Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provision) Act, 2010," also known as the Quick Rental Act. 

“We have taken various initiatives to reduce power generation as well as project implementation costs in the power and energy sector. We’re now discussing with the power plant operators how they can offer a lower tariff, as there is a big gap between their tariff rates,” he said.

Khan said that there had been no exploration of natural gas since 2010, and instead, the previous Awami League government promoted gas imports.

However, after taking the charge, the interim government formed two committees to review capacity payments made to IPPs and joint venture power plants. 

According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), 23 government-owned power plants under NWPGCL, APSCL, EGCB, RPCL, and BRPL have been instructed to reassess their agreements. 

The initiatives saved the government Tk 2600 crore annually. The total estimated savings from these reforms will amount to Tk. 14, 000 crore in the fiscal year 2025–26, according to the power division.

During the national budget presentation Besides, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said the interim government has a plan to reduce the overall cost of power generation by 10 per cent, which would save more than Tk 110 billion 

Currently, the country’s total power generation capacity is 30,787 MW against approximate demand of 18,000 MW.

BPDB Chairman Engr Rezaul Karim underscored the importance of cooperation from IPPs and joint ventures in revisiting the PPAs as part of the government’s cost-cutting efforts.

The government emphasized increasing capacity of local gas exploration company Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX) and necessary funds were allocated for its activities.

A plan was made to supply 648 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas from domestic sources within this year and to extract an additional 1500 mmcfd from wells by 2028.

As part of modernizing the power distribution system, work is underway to place distribution lines and substations underground in metropolitan areas. 

Furthermore, an agreement under sub-regional cooperation was signed with Nepal on 3 October 2024 to import 40MW hydropower at an affordable price to meet the electricity demand. 

The government also hoped that the first unit of 2400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will supply 1,200MW electricity to the national grid by December this year.