Power supply to 2.22 crore consumers of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), out of its total 3.58 crore, has been suspended following the landfall of cyclone Remal on Sunday (May 26, 2024). According to a top official of the BREB, these consumers are living in the areas belonging to 61 Palli Biduyt Samities (PBSs), out of a total 81. “The areas where power supply remained off till Monday since the hit of the cyclone are mainly located in the coastal belt of the country,” he told UNB. Impact of Cyclone Remal: Rain disrupts commute for office workers, students in Dhaka He, however, said mainly the power transmission was halted to those cyclone-hit areas as part of a cautionary measure to avoid any accident. With the improvement of the situation, gradually the power transmission and distribution system will be checked and restored, he added. Cyclone Remal: 2 die as roof collapses in Barishal He noted that it’s still not clear how much damages were caused by cyclone Remal. “We’re now receiving information from the cyclone affected areas,” he said. Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources took some measures including opening control rooms on Sunday to deal with the cyclone.

Bangladesh State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said on Tuesday (October 25, 2022) that some 80 lakh (8 million) consumers remained without electricity across the country after Cyclone Sitrang hit Bangladesh. “Of this, some 60 lakh (6 million) are under the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) and the remaining consumers are of other organisations like Nesco and WZPDCO,” he told reporters at his ministry on Tuesday. He noted that power supply to 70 percent of the affected areas will be possible to restore by Tuesday evening while the rest 30 percent will get electricity by Wednesday afternoon. Read: Sitrang aftermath: Some areas in southern districts still without power Currently, the total power consumers are 4.8 crore (48 million) across the country. Nasrul Hamid said the power supply was disrupted mainly by the falling of trees on the transmission and distribution lines. He said that many electric poles were uprooted by the cyclone that caused blackout in many areas. The state minister, however, said the total damage was not calculated yet. Read: Inland water transport operations resume as Sitrang weakens “It will take some more time to get a complete picture of the damages caused by cyclone Sitrang”, he said.

Md Selim Uddin, an additional secretary to the Power Division, has been made new chairman of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) with immediate effect. The Ministry of Public Administration issued a circular in this regard on Thursday. He replaced Maj Gen (retd) Moin Uddin, who went on retirement after expiry of the contractual appointment. Read: One dose of vaccine must to attend schools: Cabinet Secretary Prior to the new job, Selim, an admin cadre officer of BCS 13th batch, served the Ministry of Industries as additional secretary, Ministry of Commerce as joint secretary and deputy commissioner (DC) of Bhola district. Earlier, he also served the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and also Power Division in different capacities, sources said.  

The number of power consumers under the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) in the country’s rural areas has reached 3.18 crore. Disclosing the information, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Tuesday urged the power officials to improve their services up to the satisfaction of the consumers. “Achieving customers’ satisfaction now should be our main target. You have to reach out the improved services to the doorstep of the consumers”, he said while addressing a webinar  organised by the BERB to observe the 15 August National Mourning Day 2021. Also read: If no hike in bulk power tariff, then no hike in retail, agree BERB, TEC   The virtual seminar, with BREB Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Moin Uddin in the chair, was addressed by Power Secretary Habibur Rahman and Power Cell Director General Mohammad Hossain. Nasrul said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had taken various steps to provide electrification services to the rural areas considering the economic development of the rural people.   “Erasing the difference between the urban and rural areas was the main goal of Bangabandhu”, he said, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working to achieve the goal through expanding modern amenities to the villages. Also read:Uninterrupted affordable energy main challenge in future: Nasrul Hamid He said the power sector has been playing a vital role in implementing the “My Village-My City” programme to fulfil the pledges of the prime minister.     Nasrul also directed the BREB officials to use the improved technologies in rural electrification as well as encourage people to use energy efficient appliances for ensuring economic consumption of power.

The use of solar power to run irrigation pumps is not new in the country. But a latest move offers something new and different to the farmers: sell your off-season idle electricity to the national grid and earn an income, too. Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) plans to install 2000 solar irrigation pumps under the project allowing farmers to sell their unconsumed electricity to the national grid when irrigation is no longer required. The solar power-run pumps will replace the existing conventional diesel-run machines in 21 districts under a pilot project, said officials at the BREB. Read: EGCB signs MoU with Marubeni to build 100 MW solar plant in Sonagazi They said the BREB’s move comes as part of the government’s long-term aim to gradually replace the existing 1.34 million diesel-run irrigation pumps with solar across the country. In the first phase of the project, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase has recently approved four separate tender proposals of the BREB to install 1295 solar irrigation pumps at a cost of about Tk 157 crore. “These pumps will be installed in the districts of Noagaon, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Gopalganj, Faridpur, Madaripur, Kumilla and Feni under different rural electricity cooperatives known as Palli Biduyt Samiti (PBS)”, according to a BREB document. Read Bangladesh’s single largest rooftop solar power plant inaugurated in Korean EPZ BREB officials claimed that under the new system, solar electricity will have a better utilization by transmitting the off-irrigation power to the national grid. “We have calculated that farmers normally use pumps for 115-120 days of a year for irrigation, while the rest of the year the pumps remain off when solar electricity has no use”, said Shakil Ibn Sayeed, project director of the BREB. “So, BREB will purchase this electricity from the farmers at bulk rate to ensure a better use of the unconsumed electricity”, he told UNB. Read Biden’s solar ambitions collide with China labor complaints

Power utility bodies have to respond to consumers’ applications for power connections digitally, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said Sunday.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has urged officials of Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) to pursue rural people to raise their electricity consumption to 1,000 kilowatt-hour (kWh) from existing 98 kWh.

A sudden change in the bidding process by Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) has put transformer suppliers in a dilemma which may lead to the use of substandard products in its power distribution project and encourage unfair practices.