- Private costs Tk14.62, Rental Tk12.35 & import Tk8.77 per kw
- load shedding would be severe without import
- If India can produce low cost and sell, why don’t we?
- Ijaz Hossain, Former prof , BUET
Bangladesh is almost on the completion of hundred percent electricity service establishments in all of its area from capital to remote area. This is an incredible success of Bangladesh governments and this credit goes to people also for their positive approach to government. Government has to keep it going well to reduce peoples suffering and for the betterment of the Bangladeshi economy.
Along with local production, Bangladesh is meeting its electricity demand through imports from neighboring India. 12 percent of the country's total electricity supply is done through imports. In the last financial year (2022-23), the expenditure on electricity import was Tk 9 thousand 223 crore. According to the calculations of the Ministry of Finance, in the current fiscal year 2023-24, Tk 17 thousand 586 crore can be spent on this. In that case, the cost of electricity import in the country may increase by about Tk 8 thousand 363 crore or more than 90 percent.
Those concerned said that at present the cost of imported electricity is comparatively less than that of locally produced electricity. For this reason, the government is increasing the import of electricity to save money. In the current financial year, the government is going to increase the cost of buying electricity. Recently, the revised budget of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) for the current fiscal year was finalized by the Ministry of Finance. It can be seen that in the financial year 2023-24, the organization will spend Tk 88,532 crore on purchasing electricity. Tk 82,778 crore spent in the previous financial year. Out of this, Tk 17,586 crore will be spent on electricity import in the current financial year whereas in the previous financial year, the government imported electricity worth Tk 9,223 crore.
All of the electricity imported into the country comes from neighboring India. This electricity is being brought from both public and private sources of the country. Among them, 1 thousand 160 megawatts are being imported under government contracts. And 1,600 MW is coming from the country's private power company Adani Group. In all, so far there is a contract to import 2 thousand 760 megawatts of electricity from the country.
According to BPDB's financial report, the organization as a single purchasing organization purchased 8724 million kilowatt hours of electricity in the last financial year. Out of this, 10 thousand 425 million kilowatt hours of electricity has been imported from India. The contribution of electricity imported from India to the total supply was about 12.44 percent. In the previous financial year 2021-22, BPDB imported 7712 million kilowatt hours of electricity from India. The amount of electricity import has increased by more than 35 percent in a span of one year.
Habibur Rahman, Senior Secretary of Electricity Department said "This time the import of electricity is increasing, so the cost will also increase. If electricity is not imported from India at the moment, there would be severe load shedding. Moreover, if we compare the price of electricity, currently the price of electricity imported from India is the lowest. It will save our money. The government's policy is to import up to 15 percent of our electricity demand. Attention should also be paid to ensure that there is no complete dependence on imports.
Compared to private and rental power plants, BPDB's cost per kilowatt of imported electricity has been lower in the last financial year. According to the financial report of BPDB in the financial year 2022-23, BPDB spent an average of Tk 14.62 paisa per kilowatt on purchase of electricity from private or IPP and Tk12.35 paisa from rental power plants. On the other hand, the cost of importing electricity from India was Tk 8.77 paisa per kilowatt.
In the financial year 2022-23, the electricity imported from India was Tk 9223 crore 41 lakh. Where BPDB's expenditure on power purchase from IPP was Tk 59 thousand 22 crore 74 lakh and the cost of power purchase from rental power plant was Tk 3 thousand 743 crore 85 lakh.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the cost of purchasing electricity from IPP, SIPP and rental power plants will decrease in the current financial year. On the contrary, the cost of buying from other sources will increase. Out of this, in the current fiscal year, the cost of buying electricity from IPP and SIPP has been estimated at Tk 37 thousand 722 crore. Tk 42 thousand 740 crore was spent on this in the last financial year. Tk 2 thousand 320 crore will be spent on purchasing electricity from rental centers whereas in the previous financial year it was spent 3 thousand 743 crore. In the current financial year, BPDB will buy electricity worth Tk 19 thousand 837 crore from Northwest Power Generation Company (NWPGCL), Bangladesh-China Power Company (BCPCL) and Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (BIFPCL). Tk 18 thousand 356 crore electricity was purchased in the last financial year. Tk 4 thousand 516 crore has been estimated to purchase electricity from Rural Power Company Limited (RPCL).
Last time electricity was purchased from the company for Tk 3 thousand 615 crore. Ashuganj power plant purchase expenditure has been estimated at Tk 4 thousand 103 crore, whereas in the previous financial year the expenditure was Tk 3 thousand 306 crore. BPDB will buy electricity worth Tk 2,446 crore in the financial year 2023-24 from the Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB). In the last financial year, electricity was purchased from the company worth Tk 1,792 crore.
On the condition of anonymity, a reliable source of BPDB said, "The cost of importing electricity from India is lower than oil or coal-based power plants. As a result, BPDB has prioritized to purchase electricity from where it will save more. Be it imported or private. Moreover, according to the agreement made with India, electricity has been saved in the past years.
According to BPDB's power generation statistics on April 2, 13,707 MW of electricity was supplied during the evening peak hour. Out of this, local level production was 12 thousand 71 MW. And 1 thousand 636 megawatts of electricity has been imported from India. Out of this, 1010 MW of electricity has been imported from Adani power plant, 490 MW from Bheramara (HVDC) plant and 135 MW from Tripura.
Ijaz Hossain, former professor of BUET and energy expert said "There is nothing wrong in importing electricity from India at a lower price than the production cost of local electricity." But why India is able to produce electricity at low cost, why we can't, need to be analyzed. The technologies they follow, the type of fuel they use are basically the same. The amount of electricity that is being imported, if it is done in Bangladesh, besides developing skilled manpower, large employment could be created in the country. By doing this, it would be possible to reduce the dependence on imports.
ZH
