Is the World Cup tripping Bangladesh's power grid?
The pressure is particularly acute because Bangladesh is already enduring extreme summer heat. The World Cup, analysts say, effectively arrived on top of an already stressed grid
Highlights:
- Government plans guarantees and clean energy fund for renewable investment
- Bangladesh targets 20% renewable electricity generation by 2030
- Country needs 10,000–11,000MW additional renewable capacity within five years
- Financing barriers previously slowed renewable energy growth and investment
- Rooftop solar becomes central with mandatory net metering proposals
- Grid stability measures include battery storage and transmission upgrades
At 7am on 17 June, as Argentina was dismantling Algeria and the streets outside tea stalls flickered with the glow of oversized screens, Bangladesh's power grid quietly crossed a threshold it had never done before at that hour.
Demand had not fallen, as it normally does after midnight. Instead, it had risen to 391 gigawatt-hours for the day and beyond 17,000 megawatts in real time.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The lights went out for millions.
This year's FIFA World Cup has transformed the country's electricity consumption pattern in ways that energy analysts say are now visible in national grid data itself.
For years, Bangladesh's power system followed a predictable rhythm. Demand peaked during the evening hours, usually between 9pm and 11pm, before falling sharply after midnight as households, businesses and factories powered down. But during the World Cup, that pattern appears to have broken.
Instead of declining overnight, electricity demand has remained unusually high until dawn, precisely when Bangladeshis are watching the tournament's biggest matches.
The result is a surge in load-shedding severe enough to expose both the country's football obsession and the structural fragility of its energy system.
A sudden spike after 12 June
The data tells a striking story.
According to Power Grid Bangladesh (PGCB) figures, load-shedding remained comparatively manageable before the World Cup began on 12 June. On 12 June itself, maximum load-shedding stood at around 938 megawatts (MW). Within days, however, the situation escalated dramatically.
By 17 June, maximum load-shedding had climbed to 3,275 MW. On 28 June, it hit 3,400 MW — one of the highest levels recorded this summer.
The rise closely mirrors the World Cup's group-stage schedule.
Germany's opening late-night match against Curaçao on 14 June coincided with daily electricity demand reaching roughly 375 gigawatt-hours (GWh), the first major jump above the national grid's apparent stress threshold.
Then came a cluster of heavyweight fixtures.
Argentina vs Algeria at 4am on 16 June. France vs Senegal at 1am the same night. Portugal vs Congo DR at 2am on 17 June.
Those matches pushed Bangladesh's daily energy demand to 386 GWh and then 391 GWh on consecutive days. Load-shedding surged alongside it, eventually peaking at more than 3,200 MW.
The pattern repeated throughout the month.
Argentina's match against Austria and France's game against Iraq on 22 June coincided with demand rebounding to 372 GWh and load-shedding jumping back above 2,700 MW.
Brazil and Germany's late-night fixtures on 24–25 June sustained demand above 380 GWh, keeping outages near 2,500 MW.
By 27–28 June, as the group stage intensified and knockout qualification scenarios drew mass audiences, Bangladesh recorded its highest tournament-period electricity demand yet: 413 GWh. Maximum load-shedding simultaneously climbed to 3,400 MW.
Change in midnight demand curve
Mohammad Tamim, energy researcher and former BUET professor, says Bangladesh's traditional load pattern has effectively inverted during the tournament.
"The primary reason behind the recent increase in load-shedding is that people are staying awake late into the night to watch World Cup matches," he said. "Previously, Bangladesh's peak load-shedding typically occurred during the evening peak hours — roughly between 9pm and 11pm. However, current data suggests a major shift in the demand curve."
According to him, outages are now becoming more severe between 2am and 4am — precisely when many of the tournament's biggest matches are underway.
Power sector officials say the country previously experienced a roughly 3,000 MW drop in electricity demand after midnight. Now, that decline has shrunk dramatically.
Md Zahurul Islam, a member of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), told Prothom Alo that post-midnight demand now falls by only about 1,000 MW instead of 3,000 MW.
"Large projectors and LED displays consume additional electricity. Fans, air-conditioners and refrigerators continue running while households stay awake until dawn… The increased electricity demand is not driven solely by televisions. It is part of a broader rise in nighttime energy usage."
Electricity generation typically declines overnight as well. Coal, gas and oil-fired plants are usually calibrated around expected reductions in demand. When demand unexpectedly remains high through the night, the supply gap widens rapidly.
The consequences are now visible in national load-shedding patterns.
PGCB data cited by power officials shows that the heaviest outages are increasingly occurring after midnight, especially between 12am and 4am.
One match reveals the pattern
Perhaps the clearest evidence of the World Cup effect came on 19 June.
Brazil played Haiti at 3am Bangladesh time. Normally, a Brazil match would trigger enormous viewership. But because the fixture lacked the intensity and profile of a major heavyweight clash, public screening activity was reportedly lower.
That night, load-shedding dropped sharply — to around 150 MW.
For Shafiqul Alam, lead analyst for Bangladesh at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the anomaly is revealing.
"On 19 June, when there were no particularly important matches or major events, load-shedding dropped sharply to around 150 MW," he said. "This strongly suggests a correlation between World Cup-related electricity demand and the rise in outages."
In other words, it is not football alone driving the surge — but the scale of collective viewing behaviour surrounding marquee fixtures.
TVs are only part of the story
The increase in demand is not merely the result of millions of televisions being switched on. The World Cup has altered nighttime economic activity itself.
"Restaurants and roadside tea stalls remain open late for screenings. Shopping areas stay active deeper into the night. Large projectors and LED displays consume additional electricity. Fans, air-conditioners and refrigerators continue running while households stay awake until dawn," said Shafiqul Alam.
"The increased electricity demand is not driven solely by televisions," he said, "It is part of a broader rise in nighttime energy usage."
The pressure is particularly acute because Bangladesh is already enduring extreme summer heat.
High temperatures have pushed up cooling demand nationwide, with fans and air-conditioners operating continuously in many urban centres. Meanwhile, electric rickshaw charging has also kept nighttime electricity use unusually elevated in rural areas.
The World Cup, analysts say, effectively arrived on top of an already stressed grid.
But football is not the only cause
Energy experts caution against blaming the World Cup alone.
Bangladesh's power sector has been struggling with deeper structural weaknesses for years — and many of those problems have intensified this summer.
"Fuel shortages have sharply reduced generation capacity. Although Bangladesh officially has installed generation capacity exceeding 28,000 MW, actual production has remained stuck around 13,000–14,000 MW because many plants cannot secure enough gas, coal or furnace oil," said Professor Tamim.
Government officials confirmed that technical faults and coal unloading disruptions recently removed nearly 3,000 MW from the national grid.
The country's dependence on imported fuel has further complicated matters.
"The ongoing Middle East crisis has disrupted LNG markets and increased costs, while BPDB continues to struggle with mounting unpaid bills to power producers," said Shafiqul Alam, "At the same time, authorities are reluctant to run expensive oil-fired plants at full capacity because doing so would substantially increase subsidy burdens.
Chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Engineer Md Rezaul Karim, said, "The demand increase due to world cup football has affected the disruptions, but it has not affected them greatly. The temperature has been high for a while. And two powerplants were partially offline. We have already overcome the issues. And the load-shedding has begun to drop as well."
This means Bangladesh entered the World Cup period with very little reserve margin left in the system. Hence, the unbearable load-shedding across the country.
The irony is difficult to ignore: while millions gather to celebrate football deep into the night, many villages remain without electricity for hours at a time.
But the broader warning remains. The tournament did not create Bangladesh's electricity crisis. It merely exposed it. A power system that becomes unstable because citizens stay awake to watch football is ultimately a system operating with dangerously little margin for shock.
