Load-shedding – once a rural problem – now hits Dhaka

Load-shedding used to happen only in villages, keeping cities bright at night, but that reality has changed.
The relationship of Dhaka's residents with power outages is increasingly resembling that of villagers. Especially, over the past few days, power has been playing hide-and-seek across the capital, from alleyways to affluent areas. The hardship that rural people have accepted as a normal part of life for years is now knocking at the doors of Dhaka's residents. Students' studies, household chores, or online-dependent activities – none are spared from the bite of load-shedding.

The country's largest power distribution company is the Rural Electrification Board (REB). It distributes power through 80 rural electrification societies across the country. Currently, out of the country's 5 crore 20 lakh (52 million) customers, about 80% are under REB. Yet these days, rural areas are experiencing nearly 40% load-shedding, with power outages lasting 12 to 15 hours. But until now, this picture was confined to villages. Now, Dhaka's name has also been added to this list.

Power is distributed across the country under 9 zones. Data from the zones show that in the past four days, the capital topped the list in load-shedding on two occasions. On August 9, the Dhaka zone faced a shortfall of 547 megawatts – the highest among all 9 zones. The next day, August 10, Dhaka experienced load-shedding of 364 megawatts.

Last Tuesday as well, the Dhaka zone saw the highest load-shedding. That day, the zone's peak demand was 6,432 megawatts, with a shortfall of 585 megawatts. The following day, August 12, the Dhaka zone recorded the second-highest load-shedding at 445 megawatts, while the highest was in Mymensingh at 575 megawatts. This trend of power disruptions in the Dhaka zone is now worrying residents of the capital.

Cooking troubles: These days, Shawan Ahmed, a resident of Mirpur, no longer tries to light his gas stove upon waking up in the morning. Due to months of low gas pressure, he bought an electric stove about six months ago. He thought his cooking problems were solved – but no. For the past two to three days, that electric stove has been lying idle in his kitchen. Because after the gas crisis, load-shedding has now started in the capital. For two days, Shawan has been surviving on hotel food. He said, "There's no gas, so I bought an electric stove. Now there's no electricity either."

Meanwhile, Parul, a domestic worker, lives with her husband and four children in the Bagichartek area of Rampura. The day before yesterday, gas came to burner in Bagichartek at midnight, and Parul cooked for her family then. Yesterday, due to the gas shortage all day, she couldn't cook. On top of that, a power crisis has now begun. She told Agamir Somoy, "It's a tin shed house – the heat from the electric current made it impossible to sleep at night. And because of the gas problem, I couldn't cook; I just ate a few bites at the house where I work."

Parul's family bought food from a hotel yesterday. She said buying food from outside costs them more than Tk 400 per meal. This is no longer just the story of Shawan's or Parul's family – many households across various areas of the capital are facing similar crises. The gas problem pushed people towards alternatives, and now the power crisis is turning its back on that very alternative.

Growing dependence on hotels: Due to the prolonged uncertainty over gas supply, many city dwellers had already purchased LPG cylinders, induction cookers, or regular electric stoves. In other words, residents created their own alternatives to gas at their own expense. And the foundation of those alternatives was uninterrupted electricity. But the severe load-shedding over the past two days is now making city residents wonder—what is the next alternative?

When electricity suddenly goes out, it is not just electric stoves that stop working; refrigerators, water pumps, fans—everything comes to a halt. The crisis is therefore multi-faceted. And it is the working families of the capital that are suffering the most from this crisis. In households where both husband and wife work, there is no extra time for cooking. If there is no power in the morning, it becomes difficult to cook before leaving for the office.

Similarly, without power, there is no opportunity to cook even after returning at night. As a result, hotels have become the alternative for these families. They rely on rice, lentils, vegetables, fish, meat, khichuri, or biryani. This is not only changing the type of food they eat but also altering their monthly budgets. This extra expense is becoming a major burden for middle-class and lower-middle-class families.

A hotel owner in the metropolitan area said that although they have some regular customers, many new faces are now coming to buy food. Many of them say that there is no electricity at home, so they have to get food from outside.

Meanwhile, the hardship from power outages is not limited to the kitchen. During load-shedding, fans and air conditioners stop running. Water pumps also fail to operate. As a result, many households are facing problems with filling overhead tanks. Additionally, lifts stop working, causing extreme inconvenience for residents of multi-storey buildings. Moreover, families with children, elderly members, or sick individuals are facing immeasurable suffering.