Lights out: How loadshedding upended the life of small entrepreneurs outside the capital

In the heart of Nabinagar village in Lalpur, Natore, Mohammad Asadullah's poultry farm, with around 4,000 layer chickens, had been running well until July, when regular and prolonged loadshedding began. The effects have been wreaking havoc on Asadullah's farm.  

"When the loadshedding took place at noon, many hens died from heat stroke. I could not provide drinking water for the hen on time and as a result, the production fell," said 40-year-old Asadullah, who set up the farm five years ago.    

In the last decade, Asadullah never had to experience such a level of loadshedding. To offset the imminent danger, Asadullah was compelled to buy a generator for Tk35,00 to save his chickens. Despite some improvement compared to before, he still has to endure three hours of loadshedding daily. 

But the small entrepreneur is still counting the cost due to loadshedding. 

"I have to use around three litres of diesel for running the generator to keep the room at a cool temperature and provide drinking water for the chickens," said Asadullah, "This means I have to spend Tk500 on an average daily, which is ultimately reducing my profit margin."

Over the last 10 years, small entrepreneurs in rural areas across the country have played a vital role in stimulating the economy, banking on the vast coverage of electricity. It changed the lifestyle of people. But now, they face new challenges as loadshedding impedes their daily lives. The effects are far and wide.

On 18 July, the government announced the implementation of countrywide loadshedding due to the power crisis. The area-wise loadshedding began on the following day. 

People in the most remote areas can use social media like YouTube, Facebook and IMO through smartphones. At the same time, they have gotten into the habit of keeping food in refrigerators, have cable television networks and so on. However, loadshedding has upended that lifestyle and with it, their businesses over the last three months. 

Rural small businesses forced to lay-off workers

Bangladesh has made a huge stride in the production and coverage of electricity. The officials of the country's largest power distribution company, Bangladesh Rural Electrification Broad (BREB), said that the demand for electricity skyrocketed in the last 13 years, increasing by three-fold.

In 2009, the demand stood at 2,200 megawatts. But now the demand stands at more than 8,800 megawatts. The total consumer in the country is more than 4 crore and 30 lakh. Of all consumers, 3 crore 37 lakh are under BREB. The distributor purchases 57% of electricity produced in the country to cover 80% of the area across the country. 

Currently, 100% of people are under electricity coverage, of which 74% of the coverage took place over the last 13 years.

Tapon Biswas, an entrepreneur in Kalihati Upazila in Tangail has been dealing with a serious problem due to loadshedding. Biswas runs a lungi-weaving business with around 30 handlooms. But due to loadshedding, the production has come down. He now finds it difficult to retain his weavers. 

"The wages of the weavers are based on the quantity of work. For example, if a weaver can weave a single piece of lungi, he can earn Tk28 to Tk32. But due to loadshedding, the production has fallen. As a result, some of the weavers left," said Tapon, who is not left with 11 weavers. 

Biswas said he has to suffer from loadshedding for three to four hours daily. He said that the demand for lungi is low because it is a lean season. Not only his business, but rampant loadshedding is also hampering the study of his children. 

Rubel Ahmed has been running a furniture factory in the College Para area in Akhaura for the last five years. The design and making of the furniture heavily depends on electricity unlike in the past when artists manually carved out designs. 

"I have to face 7 to 8 hours of loadshedding every day now. As a result, many employees lay idle," said 41-year-old Rubel. 

On 22 October, loadshedding started at 7 in the morning in Rubel's area. The electricity came back at 3 in the afternoon. After an eight-hour or outage, there was loadshedding again during the night, twice.

Rubel Ahmed said that he has already been incurring losses due to the loadshedding. 

Photo: Rajib Dhar

He could finish a piece of furniture in 5 days before the loadshedding. Now it takes 12 to 15 days. 

"I don't think the loadshedding crisis will go away anytime soon," said Rubel, who employs six workers and pays them between Tk450-Tk1,000 per day. His monthly turnover stands around Tk5 lakh. 

Locals said that the loadshedding situation has become severe in the greater Mymensingh region with seven to eight hours of daily loadshedding.

Helana Begum, a retired primary school teacher from Patharshi Union of Islampur in  Jamalpur, said that power cuts in her area got so bad that doing the daily chores is really difficult now. They do not usually open the refrigerators if the loadshedding stays for more than 7 to 8 hours. 

"Then we have to buy fish and vegetables from the neighbouring bazaar," said Helena Begum.

Moreover, burglary has increased recently in her area because many people have been living in poverty. And it is due to the increased cost of living and rampant loadshedding, Begum added. "10 cows were stolen from one of my relatives' houses a few days ago," said Helena Begum.

Long loadshedding hours at the outskirts of Dhaka

Not only the remote areas, but the capital's outskirts are also reeling from the effects of loadshedding. 

Dendabar in Ashulia is a neighbourhood with around 20,000 people. As it is an industrial area, 90% of the population are garment workers who have been greatly affected by loadshedding too. 

Most of the garment workers work in the neighbouring Export Processing Zone (EPZ). They go to the factories early in the morning and cook food during the night in darkness. Due to the inconsistent and long hours of loadshedding, they cannot always prepare food on time to take to work.

Rasel Miah works for the Shanta Denims company in the New EPZ. After the regular day-long work, an exhausted Miah comes back to his house in the middle of loadshedding. 

"In the morning, we cannot cook food because of the lack of water due to the loadshedding. I have to go to work skipping breakfast," said Rasel Miah. "If you get one hour of electricity, there is another hour of loadshedding." 

Shahinur Rahman, who works for Berger Paints, has been living in the area for the last nine years. He said that loadshedding has now become a nightmare. "If there is electricity for 40 minutes, then the loadshedding is around one and a half hours,'' said Shahinur Rahman. "We used to keep food in our refrigerator. But now we stopped using refrigerators."

He said that he has a dish connection but "I cannot see it due to blackouts. But at the end of the month, I will have to pay for the dish fee. And I have to pay Tk500 per month for the broadband connection, but I cannot really use the internet through wifi because of load-shedding," said Shahinur.  

Shahinur Rahman lives on the fourth floor of a five-storied building in the Dendabor area in Ashulia. It gets too hot during the day, almost unbearable, affecting their daily lives. 

"The children cannot get the environment to study because it is very hot and [at night] in the darkness, they get little to no scope of studying," said Shahinur Rahman, who has two school-going children.  

BREB prioritised irrigation but loadshedding continues

Debasish Chakrabarti, a Member of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, also agrees that though a large number of small entrepreneurs grew across the country over the last decade, banking on the electricity provided by the BREB, these small businesses received a shattering blow due to recurring loadshedding. However, BREB has instant plans to face the crisis.   

Photo: Rajib Dhar

"For the time being, we are effectively distributing the load we are receiving, giving priority to small industries, irrigation, hospitals and government's important offices," said Debasish Chakrabarti.   

At the same time, Debasish Chakrabarti said they have some solar irrigation pump projects in the making. They are moving towards solar irrigation pumps. 

However, Abu Salek Shakil at Machbari village in Gabtoli, Bogura, who runs a water pump for irrigation of more than 60 bighas of paddy land, is worried about the upcoming Boro season which needs a lot of irrigation. 

He said that though on average, he has to face around three-hour loadshedding every day, it is not impacting his irrigation business currently as he is now growing Aman, which does not need water like Boro cultivation does. 

"It will have problems if the loadshedding continues in the Boro season [which will start in January]," said Shakil.

"If the loadshedding keeps on like this, we will not be able to water the paddy land properly and as a result, we will not get good yields," Shakil said. "If we water the land with diesel-fueled pumps, the production cost will go up. It will be a serious crisis".