Up to 9 hours without power: Load-shedding grips Khulna

Khulna is grappling with severe load-shedding amid the intense heat, with locals in many rural areas reporting 8 to 9 hours without electricity a day, while city dwellers face an average of four to five hours of outages.

The prolonged cuts are disrupting households, businesses and small factories, with children, elderly people and sick people facing particular hardship, locals said.

In different parts of Khulna city, locals reported outages lasting two to three hours at a stretch before electricity briefly returns and goes off again.

Asad Shikder, a businessman in Moylapota, said frequent outages during busy hours were making it difficult to serve customers.

"Power goes out four to five times during busy periods. Online transactions, computers, printers and other equipment stop working. This wastes time, while some customers become frustrated and leave," he added.

Bellal, a restaurant owner at Satrasta intersection, said prolonged outages were disrupting kitchen operations and food storage.

"Everything from the kitchen to refrigerators, freezers and water pumps requires electricity. When power remains out for a long time, food cannot be stored properly. Running a generator also increases fuel costs," he said.

According to the control room of the West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd, demand in its coverage area stood at 807MW at 3pm today (12 August), against a supply of 578MW.

The 229MW shortfall was forcing the utility to impose load-shedding in different areas, said West Zone Power's Chief Engineer Md Abdul Majid.

"We are facing a power deficit because supply is lower than demand. We hope the situation will improve very soon," he said.

The West Zone Power supplies electricity to two city corporations, 37 municipalities and 21 district towns in the southwestern region.

Meanwhile, locals of the nine upazilas under Khulna Palli Bidyut Samity said they were experiencing repeated outages during both the day and night, totalling eight to nine hours a day.

The cuts are disrupting students' studies, online work, small businesses and electricity-dependent irrigation, they said.

Paikgacha fish farmer Zulfikar Ali said prolonged outages could affect pumps and aerators used to maintain water and oxygen levels in fish enclosures.

"Especially when the power remains out for a long time at night, there is a risk of fish being affected. Using diesel as an alternative increases costs significantly," he said.

Khulna Palli Bidyut Samity General Manager Tushar Kanti Mondal said demand in the upazilas could reach 80–85MW, while the utility was able to supply only 50-60% of that demand, resulting in a persistent deficit.