Power supply to households remains largely stable nationwide, as many energy-intensive sources such as mills, factories, offices, and shopping malls are yet to reopen following the Eid holidays.

The notable drop in energy demand also allowed the Power Development Board (PDB) to maintain an uninterrupted supply to homes during Eid, despite concerns about power cuts due to load-shedding, especially in rural areas, in the days leading up to the holidays.

Moreover, the government shut down most fertiliser factories during the holidays to increase gas supply to the power generation sector.

Meanwhile, the supply of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) increased by 400 million cubic feet per day as Summit Group's Floating Storage And Regasification Unit resumed operation last week following a two-and-a-half-month-long maintenance.

However, the electricity demand is expected to spike when industries and offices resume operating in full swing and the temperature gets hotter in the third week of April, as forecasted by the Met Office. Mild to moderate heat waves have already been sweeping across the country since April 11.

Power generation remained steady as usual between 11,000MW and 13,000MW last week, the highest from gas-fired power plants -- up to 7,400MW.

As of 7:00pm yesterday, there was around 500MW of power generation shortfall against the demand of 13,750MW.

The demand was, on average, 15,500MW before industries closed for the Eid holidays. This year, the PDB has set a peak production target of 17,800MW.

A top PDB official, wishing anonymity, told The Daily Star that the power supply was quite stable as demand fell with offices and industries closed during the Eid holidays.

"As a large number of people left Dhaka for their village homes to celebrate Eid with their families, it was decided that major loads would be allocated to the rural areas under Bangladesh Rural Development Board," he said.

He, however, acknowledged that the extent of load-shedding will likely increase and the power supply situation will deteriorate once offices and industries resume full operation and the temperature soars in peak summer.

There was a shortage of power when demand increased early this month. According to PDB, power cuts reached a peak of 2,054MW on April 6. However, since then, demand has fallen, and as such load-shedding was no longer necessary.

Prof M Shamsul Alam, vice president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said that it was frustrating that the power division still struggles to meet the demand during peak summer.

"It has been of no use to increase the power generation capacity and pay capacity charges to private power plants. Consumers are ultimately bearing the extra charges on their electricity bills," he said.