Joypurhat gets less than half of its electricity demand

JOYPURHAT, Aug 16: Severe load-shedding has made life miserable for residents of Joypurhat, with electricity unavailable for 10 to 11 hours out of every 24 hours amid scorching heat.

The prolonged outages have triggered growing frustration among consumers. Tensions escalated recently when a meter reader of the Joypurhat Palli Bidyut Samity was allegedly assaulted by customers in Srimantapur of Panchbibi Upazila. The utility is preparing to file a case over the incident.

Amid concerns over possible unrest related to the power crisis, the General Manager of Joypurhat Palli Bidyut Samity, Abu Umama Md Mahbubul Haque, has written to the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police seeking enhanced security at the utility's substations.

In the letter, he requested stronger security at 10 substations in five upazilas of the district.

According to the utility's headquarters, Joypurhat's daily electricity demand is around 72 megawatts. Against this, the district is receiving only 26-28MW, less than half of the demand. The significant shortfall is forcing the authorities to impose prolonged load-shedding.

Consumer Mahmuda Begum said electricity was already scarce but her bills had increased.

“I used to receive bills of around Tk 180, but now I am being charged around Tk 350. I don't even have a television or refrigerator at home. We only use bulbs and two fans. How can a poor person manage such high bills?” she said.

Another consumer, Abdus Samad, said electricity was unavailable for more than half of the day and night.

“Whenever I go to sleep at night, the power goes out. I cannot sleep in this heat. Yet the electricity bill is not coming down,” he said.

Abu Umama Md Mahbubul Haque told reporters that the administration's assistance had been sought primarily to ensure the safety of field-level employees.

“It will be difficult to get out of this crisis quickly unless the national power supply increases,” he said.