ASIFUR RAHMAN

Power cuts across the country, especially in rural areas, have worsened with the mercury rising, as the government struggles to meet even off-peak demand due to shortages of gas, coal, and furnace oil to generate enough electricity.

Peak-hour shortages have exceeded 1,500 megawatts (MW) daily this week, similar to last week. With this shortfall, some areas are experiencing on average two to three hours of outages, though distribution companies say rural areas are suffering far longer power cuts.

Consumers under the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (REB) are reporting five to six hours of power cuts daily.

Yesterday, daytime peak demand reached 15,500MW at noon, against a generation of 14,069MW, leaving a shortfall of 1,462MW.

The shortage exceeded 1,000MW almost every hour yesterday, peaking at 1,840MW at 9:00pm. The Power Development Board forecast a shortfall of 2,932MW at midnight yesterday, showing that demand is going unmet even at night.

The average shortfall this week stood at 1,067MW, sharply up from 343MW last week and 358MW in the first week of April.

Data shows rural areas in Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Cumilla have faced the most severe cuts, with shortfalls exceeding

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