Bangladesh Grapples with Worsening Electricity Shortage After LNG Terminal Accident

Power cuts have intensified across Bangladesh, causing widespread disruptions to households, businesses, and industrial production. The country's electricity shortage has worsened since a July 22 accident at an Excelerate Energy-operated liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal reduced pipeline gas supply by over 17%.

The average daily power generation shortfall reached 1,482 megawatts (MW) last week, up from 320MW in the previous week. Hourly data shows the shortfall reached 2,174MW on August 1, while it touched around 3,000MW in early hours of Sunday.

Consumers are facing repeated outages rather than shorter peak-hour cuts that characterized much of the summer. Jashim Uddin, a rice mill operator in Mymensingh's Fulpur upazila, said he did not get electricity for at least seven hours throughout yesterday, affecting production and employee work.

The crisis is also putting pressure on farmers and irrigation-dependent businesses, where reliable electricity is essential for pumping water. Rahmat Ullah, a fish farmer in Cumilla, said he was able to operate his pump after midnight but power outages occurred most of the time, delaying operations and affecting worker pay.