The past Awami League (AL) government had adopted highly inefficient policies and measures related to the power sector only to help the independent power producers (IPPs) loyal to it become affluent over the last one decade, sources said.

The anomalies in the power sector commenced with the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provision) Act 2010, which was enacted for facilitating effective and urgent measures to enhance power generation.

A syndicate of power entrepreneurs began benefiting by turning the special provision act into a normal one to grab public fund in collaboration with former state minister Nasrul Hamid, former principal secretaries Ahmed Kaikaus and Abul Kalam Azad, officials at Power Grid Bangladesh (PGBL) told the Daily Sun.

“Abul Kalam Azad, former chairman of the Power Grid board, appointed many employees without following the service rules and regulations. He also hired many people based on political affiliations, rather than their qualifications and merit,” PGBL former general manager (finance) Mohammed Selim told the Daily Sun.

Selim, a Fellow Certified Management Accountant (FCMA), further said the directors appointed by Azad wasted around Tk10,000 crore by using aluminium conductor composite core instead of conventional conductor in the operational lines.

The former senior official of Power Grid also said the regime of Azad at PGBL was a dark chapter for honest officers who were deprived of regular benefits with interference from top brass appointed from external sources.

Ahmed Kaikaus, a former senior secretary of Power Division, is blamed for mismanaging and creating a financial pressure on the country's power sector through promoting IPPs’ abuse of the Quick Enhancement Act.

“Privately-owned power plants were helpful in an earlier crisis. The capacity payment for the IPPs was logical at that time. However, we found a policy failure in power sector management. If the previous government scrapped the Quick Enhancement Act, the anomalies in the power sector could be minimised significantly,” Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told the Daily Sun.

Dr Moazzem recommended considering the demand for electricity before renewing the contracts with the private power plants to save the public money.
“A clause like ‘no production, no payment’ can be incorporated to bring transparency in finance at the private power plants,” he said.

A CPD study showed that the Awami League government paid around Tk1.05 lakh crore in 14 years as capacity payments to power plant owners till August 2023.
Meanwhile, prepaid electricity metres have emerged as a significant concern for Dhaka city residents due to overcharging and inconsistencies in the billing system caused by mismanagement. In some cases, the same appliances are used consistently at a household, but the bills charged to them vary widely.

A total of 64 IPPs with the capacity of 10,445MW, 10 SIPs with 284 MW capacity, 2 rental power plants with 137 MW capacity and 11 rental power plants (under No electricity No pay contracts) with 852 MW capacity are currently operational in the country.

The power generation capacity on the grid stood at 28,098 MW at the end of July this year, while per capita electricity consumption was 602 MW.
There is an over-generation capacity of 41% which is significantly higher than the maximum required reserve margin of 30%. There is a scope of reducing the  capacity by 6,677 MW without having any major adverse effect on the electricity supply, said experts.

CPD has called for phasing out 28 power plants with a generation capacity of 3,655 MW by 2030 after their current contracts expire.
These power plants include EGCB Limited, Dutch Bangla Power, Paramount BTrac Energy, Ashuganj Power, Narayanganj Power Plant of Summit, APR Energy, Summit Meghnaghat Power, Aggreko Energy Solution, Shahjibazar Power, Khulna Power of Summit, Venture Energy Resources in Bhola, PowerPac Keraniganj, Juldha (Acorn) Power, Ashuganj (Precision Energy), Aggreko Ashuganj International,  Fenchuganj and Kumargaon of Energyprima, Amnura (Sinha Power Generation), Baraka Power, Northern Power Solution, Orion Power Meghnaghat, Aggreko Energy Aorahati, Bangla Track Power and Meghnaghat Power.