Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt.) Limited (BIFPCL), a joint venture of Bangladesh Power Development Board and India's NTPC Limited, has released a recruitment circular. Under this institution, 12 people will be appointed in five category posts in Rampal project. Interested candidates should apply online. Job circulars in Rampal power plant in 2023 1. Post Name: Assistant Manager (HR/Admin) No. of Posts: 3 Eligibility: Must have a Master's Degree with Graduation in HR/Management/Public Administration from a recognized university or MBA (HR) degree in such subject. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and CGPA 3.0 on a scale of 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Experience in related field will be preferred. Age: Maximum 30 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.52,000 Read more: Here's how you can apply for a Canadian work visa from Bangladesh 2. Post Name: Assistant Manager (Law) No. of Posts: 1 Qualification: Bachelor's Degree in Law from a recognized University. Master's Degree in Law will be preferred. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and 3.0 on a scale of CGPA 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Experience in related field will be preferred. Age: Maximum 30 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.52,000 Read more: Job Circular in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant 3. Post Name: Imam (Staff Level-3) No. of Posts: 1 Eligibility: Fazil or equivalent pass from recognized Madrasah/Institution. Must have Master's degree in Al-Fiqh and Legal Studies from any Aliya Madrasah, Kamil or Dawrae Hadith from any Qawmi Madrasah or any university. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and 3.0 on a scale of CGPA 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Must have at least five years working experience as Imam/Mufti in a big institution/mosque. Preference will be given if Hafez-e Qur'an and Ilme Qiraat are certified. Age: Maximum 45 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.26,000 Read more: Jobs Circular in Dhaka Custom House 2023: Custom House, Dhaka will hire 48 posts 4. Post Name: Priest (Staff Level-3) No. of Posts: 1 Qualification: Graduation or equivalent from a recognized institution. Must have at least five years work experience as priest/scholar in any big institution/temple. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and 3.0 on a scale of CGPA 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Kavyatirtha or any such certificate will be given preference. Age: Maximum 45 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.26,000 Read more: Recruitment Circular in Bangladesh Army 2023 5. Post Name: Security Supervisor (Staff Level-IV) No. of Posts: 6 Qualification: HSC or equivalent pass from recognized institution. Must have at least five years of work experience in the relevant field in a large organization. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 2.0 on a scale of 5 and CGPA 4 on a scale of 2.25. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Preference will be given to retired officers from Army/Navy/Air Force or BGB. Age: Maximum 45 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.23,000 Benefits: Basic salary along with housing allowance, medical facility, bonus, provident fund, gratuity, other fringe benefits will be provided as per the organization policy. Type of Job: Initially three years contractual. The contract period is renewable upto the age of 60 years on the basis of satisfactory performance of the worker. Age limit: Upper age limit for departmental candidates is 35 years for posts No. 1 and 2. Upper age limit is relaxable up to 32 years in case of children and grandchildren of veer freedom fighters/martyred veer freedom fighters. Conditions: The persons appointed to the posts No. 1 and 2 have to sign the service bond to serve this organization for three years. Read more: Ausbildung in Germany for Non-EU Students including Bangladesh , How to apply in Rampal power plant jobs Interested candidates should apply by filling the form on this website (http://bifpcl.teletalk.com.bd/bifpcl_new/) . Detailed information regarding recruitment can be known in this link. (http://bifpcl.teletalk.com.bd/bifpcl_new/docs/BIFPCL_3rd_Advertisement.pdf)

Dhaka has alone been experiencing more than 600 MW of load shedding during daytime when demand for electricity remains relatively low than nighttime. According to official sources, like the previous few days the country has been seeing over 2000 MW of power shortage.   As a result, consumers across the country are facing power outages for 6 to 7 hours in different spells during the day. Also Read: After record, country’s power generation again drops below 15,000 MW “After the evening, the situation will be deteriorating with the increase in demand,” said a top official of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) preferring anonymity. He attributed the gas shortage for the severe situation in power supply. “Actually, we have been getting lower supply of gas that forced us to keep at least 25 generation units across the country shut,” he said. Also Read: Load shedding in Sylhet: PDB engineer receives threat; GD filed He, however, said that if the BPDB receives normal supply of gas, it can produce 6,500 MW of electricity from its gas-fired plants. “But now we’re producing 4667 MW and about 1,833 MW of electricity is not available for gas shortage,” he noted. Meanwhile, managing director Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco) Md. Kausar Ameer Ali said that the area under the organization was experiencing a load shedding of 308 MW in the daytime. Read more:  Gap between power generation, supply widening: Nationwide load shedding over 1500 MW “The Desco is receiving about 800 MW against a demand of 1111 MW,” he told UNB. Desco is entrusted with the responsibility to distribute electricity in Dhaka city’s north, north-west and eastern parts while Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) is responsible for power supply in the south, southeast and central part of Dhaka city.    DPDC Managing director Bikash Dewan said that  area under DPDC has been experiencing a shortage of about 340 MW which might be up after the evening. Also Read:Load shedding in Sylhet: PDB engineer receives threat; GD filed He said DPDC has been resorting to load shedding of more than 340 MW to manage a demand of more than 1600 MW as it has been receiving 1250 MW.      However, consumers are complaining that they have to experience a huge load shedding. In some areas, people are allegedly experiencing power outages just in every alternative hour. Also Read: Load shedding amid intense heat wave makes life miserable in Khulna “Power cuts are frequent and we have been experiencing load shedding in every alternative hour,”  said Abdus Selim, a resident in the city’s Niketan area. The same experience was shared by Nazim Uddin who lives in Moghbazar area. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Sunday said that it will take two days to improve the power and gas supply situation in the country. Also Read: Loadshedding becomes insufferable: Locals vandalise Palli Bidyut office in Feni He said that after the suspension of gas supply from two floating LNG terminals, one terminal left its place for safe location while another one remained stationed at its own location. The suspension caused a huge shortage in gas supply that triggered the current level of load shedding across the country. “The current disruption in power and gas supply will improve as one of the two LNG terminals will resume supply within two days,” he told reporters at his office in the ministry. Also Read: Record heat driving record power generation, even as loadshedding increases “But I hope, gas supply will resume from one terminal within two days which will improve the situation with the supply of 400 mmcfd gas,” he said, adding that it will take 10-12 days to resume gas supply from the other LNG terminal.

After making a record of crossing 15,300 MW of benchmark, the country’s overall power generation again declined to below 15,000 MW on Saturday. According to official sources, the sudden shutdown of 660 MW first unit of Rampal Bangladesh-India Moitree power plant attributed to this fall in power generation. However, no explanation was given by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (bifpcl) in this regard which owns and operates the plant. Meanwhile, the country has to experience more than 1000 MW of load shedding due to shortage in power generation. Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) official record shows that the country generated 13,996 MW on Saturday night against a demand of 15,000 MW. The BPDB made a forecast for Sunday indicating that the country’ s peak demand would be 16,000 MW on Sunday while maximum generation will be 15,000 MW and there might be a load shedding of about 1000 MW. BPDB officials said the government withdrew the suspension on power generation by diesel-fired power plants last week following the excessive rise in demand against the backdrop of rise in temperature. “From last week we have been operating some diesel-fired power plants due to the rise in demand,” a senior official of the BPDB told UNB. He also said currently about 700 MW diesel-fired power plants have been in the operation. The government suspended diesel-fired power generation in July last year following soaring fuel price in the international market.    

Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has renewed its power purchase agreement (PPA) with PowerPac Mutiara Keraniganj Power Plant Limited for its 100 MW rental plant in Keraniganj for next two years. The signing ceremony took place at the boardroom of BPDB, Biddut Bhaban in the capital on Wednesday. BPDB Secretary Mohammad Salim Reza and Managing Director of PowerPac Limited Ron Haque Sikder signed the agreement on behalf of the respective organisations. The agreement is titled as the ‘Second amendment to the contract for supply of power on rental basis for two years’.   BPDB Member Mohammad Shamsul Haque, Chief Engineer (Private Generation) ABM Ziaul Hauq, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Sikder Group Syed Qamrul Islam (Mohon) and senior officials from both the organisations were also present on the occasion. Addressing the signing ceremony, Ron Haque Sikder said his company will resume generation and supply power to the national grid within the shortest possible time. Read more: BPDB seeks revised agreement with Adani before importing power from Jharkhand plant He thanked the BPDB officials for taking all-out measures in successful arrangement of the deal with PowerPac Mutiara Keraniganj Power Plant Ltd. BPDB Member Mohammad Shamsul Haque urged the PowerPac authorities to start functioning at the power plant soon. He said the agreement mentions that it will come into effect from the very day the deal is signed between the two parties. So, as now the agreement is signed it is expected that the power plant will start generating electricity immediately, which will be beneficial for both the government as well for the PowerPac. BPDB Chief Engineer ABM Ziaul Haque said the location of the PowerPac Mutiara Keraniganj Power Plant is too close to the capital city, which is a big plus point and that’s why sooner the production starts here is the better for both PowerPac and the BPDB.  

It has become essential to form a separate entity to deal with matters related to importing coal for both public and private power plants in Bangladesh. Some recent scams in coal price fixing made it even more necessary in order to protect the interests of the state, as there are various allegations against the coal-fired power plant operators. Energy experts are of the view that only a separate and strong state agency can work effectively in this regard. Officials of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) would also prefer a separate entity to be responsible for both import of coal and also work as a monitoring body to check any untoward practices in coal purchase for the power plants. Also Read: Top policymakers briefed about outcome of meeting with Adani on coal pricing: Sources “Since coal is a pass-through item in power generation and the BPDB has to ultimately pay the bills, there should be a state-owned entity which will import the coal directly and monitor the price of coal to be imported by any private power plant operator,” a top official of the organisation told UNB, preferring not to be named.         Supporting the idea of forming a state-owned separate entity for importing coal and supervising any coal import by the private sector, eminent energy expert Dr M Tamim said such a body for coal is essential for Bangladesh, just like the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) exists for hydrocarbons. “We can form a body like Coal Bangladesh like Coal India in our neighbouring nation,” he told UNB. He noted the reality that Bangladesh does not have any experience in coal import. Also Read: Adani Group starts discussion with Bangladesh to resolve issues on coal pricing So if any company manipulates coal prices through underhanded dealing with suppliers, it will be difficult to identify such unfair means for non-experienced officials, he added.   The coal price issue came into the forefront in recent days following the unearthing of the Indian Adani Group’s power purchase agreement (PPA) with the BPDB, and controversies surrounding the steep purchasing price for coal quoted to BPDB by Adani Power. Adani Power recently sent a request for BPDB to issue the demand note, where the coal price was quoted at $400 per metric ton (MT) - far above what BPDB officials believe it should be given the present state of the international market. “In our view, the coal price they have quoted ($400/MT) was excessive - it should be less than $250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants," the official said. They mentioned that the price of coal is coming down in the international market. Also Read: Committee to review existing deals on coal purchase for power generation To adjust the coal price,  the BPDB sought a revision to the PPA it signed with Adani Power Ltd for importing electricity from its 1600 MW thermal power plant in Jharkhand, India. Against the backdrop of a heated debate over the issue, the government formed a review committee, headed by Power Secretary Habibur Rahman, to analyse the existing deals signed by the public, private and joint venture power companies, including the one with Adani, to import coal for use in power generation. The 9-member high level committee was formed on January 23 and its first meeting was held on February 20. Besides the Power Secretary, the committee also includes the Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), additional secretary of Power Division (coordination), representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Ministry, and Commerce Ministry; the chief engineer (power generation) of BPDB, managing directors of the power generation companies, and the deputy secretary (development) of the Power Division, who will also act as member secretary of the committee. Read more: Rampal’s unit-1 to resume power generation Wednesday under 'test run' About the outcomes of the review committee meeting, Power Secretary Habibur Rahman said the committee needs to sit in more meetings. “It’s too early to give any substantial outcomes right at this moment…We need to hold more meetings”, he told UNB. Official sources said the review committee was formed following the report that Bangladesh will incur a financial loss of Tk 700 crore per month and Tk 8,400 crore annually due to the “faulty deal” signed with Adani Power to import electricity from its coal-fired 1600 MW Godda plant in Jharkhand state of India, first reported by UNB in January. The BPDB sent a letter to the Adani Group seeking a revision to the existing PPA following the request it received in relation to opening LCs (in India) to import the coal that will be used as fuel for the 1,600 MW plant in Jharkhand. Read More: Bashundhara Group wins bid to supply 8 million MT of coal to Rampal power plant The BPDB sent the letter date January 23 referring to State Minister-led delegation’s recent visit to the Adani plant mentioned, “During the discussion your side also opined that suitable mechanism will be devised to reduce this inconsistency of coal price by adjusting/changing the coal pricing mechanism of the power purchase agreement (PPA)”. BPDB officials alleged that the price of coal for the Patuakhali's Payra power plant was set at 15-16 percent higher than the market price in connivance with corrupt officials.    

Unit-1 of the 1329MW Rampal Coal-fired power plant will resume production from Wednesday (February 15, 2023), still under a test run that started in August before being discontinued last month. According to official sources, Unit-1, having 660 MW capacity, was forced to shut down on January 14 due to shortage of coal supply. The authorities of the power plant were unable to open any letter of credit (LC) to import coal due to the dollar crisis. Read More: Bashundhara Group wins bid to supply 8 million MT of coal to Rampal power plant After a lot of persuasion at the government’s policy level, LC-opening was allowed for importing coal and the supplier sent a consignment of 30,000 metric tons. “The imported coal reached the jetty of the power plant on February 9 and now we are set to resume operation at the unit-1 of the plant from Wednesday,” said Anwarul Azim, deputy general manager of the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL) told UNB. The BIFPCL, a joint venture of Indian state-owned NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), is the owner and operator of the Rampal power plant. Read More: Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Rampal a concrete manifestation of India-Bangladesh friendship: Pranay Verma The official said another that another consignment of 50,000 MT of coal is also coming to the country soon. He also informed that the plant’s unit-2 is expected to come into operation in June this year. Sources said though the unit-1 is now under test run as the BPDB which has a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the BIFPCL has not given the go-ahead yet for start of the commercial operation of the plant. Meanwhile, BIFPCL officials said that State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid is expected to visit the plant on Thursday. Read More: Stolen device worth Tk 47 lakh of Rampal Power Plant recovered in Bagerhat; 4 arrested

The government has sought a revision to the power purchase agreement (PPA) it signed with Adani Power Ltd for importing electricity from its thermal power plant in Jharkhand, India.  Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the government agency tasked with overseeing the development of the country’s power sector, has already sent a letter to the Indian company in this regard, according to officials familiar with the deal. It seems the price of coal to be purchased as fuel for the project has emerged as the prime bone of contention. “We have sent a letter to the Adani Group following a request we received in relation to opening LCs (in India) to import the coal that will be used as fuel for the 1,600 MW plant in Jharkhand,” a highly-placed official of BPDB told UNB, in return for anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Read: BPDB staring at 80% jump in annual losses after gas price hike Since practically all the power generated by the plant located in the Godda district of Jharkhand state will be exported to Bangladesh, Adani Power requires a demand note from BPDB that it can present to Indian authorities before opening LCs against the coal import. The cost incurred to import the coal, including transport from port to plant, will ultimately be borne by Bangladesh, with the price factored into the PPA's tariff structure. Adani Power recently sent a request for BPDB to issue the demand note, where the coal price is quoted at $400 per metric ton (MT) - far above what BPDB officials believe it should be given the present state of the international market. “In our view, the coal price they have quoted ($400/MT) is excessive - it should be less than $250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants," the official said. Read: The Tk 700 crore per month hole in the deal with Adani Power The same sources also said Bangladesh’s stance on the issue was communicated to Adani Power officials during the visit of a delegation led by State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid to the site of the power plant, that took place in the first week of January. Publicly however, the state minister gave no indication of any such issue during the visit, instead telling reporters that Bangladesh would start importing the power generated by one of the two units at the plant, some 750 MW, from March. The subsequent letter counts as BPDB’s formal request for the PPA to be reviewed and tariff structure to be adjusted before it can start importing the electricity, officials said. No discounts, please? A number of BPDB officials told UNB it was the absence of a provision for discounts on the purchase of coal in the PPA signed with Adani Power, that allowed the Indian firm to quote such a steep bill for the coal. Read: CPD raises question about power tariff enhancement proposal The absence of such a provision is all the more notable since it was made mandatory in the PPAs for thermal power plants signed with other independent power producers, domestic or foreign. In these PPAs, the price of coal to be purchased as primary fuel was kept as “pass-through”. The PPA with Adani Power was signed in November 2017, in Dhaka. Then-Power Division Joint Secretary Faizul Amin, BPDB secretary at the time Mina Masuduzzaman and Adani’s Business Development President Kandarp Patel signed two documents - the PPA and an Implementing Agreement - on behalf of their respective sides. Interestingly, reports in Bangladeshi media from the time suggest the agreement had to be rushed through in the end, on the insistence of the Indian company. A date proposed by the Power Division had to be brought forward, reported Energy and Power magazine, as the Indian company ‘was insisting to sign the deal earlier’. Most of the top and senior officials of the Power Division were unable to attend, the report adds. Did this rush to sign ‘ahead of schedule’ in the end cause the absence of the discount provision to be missed? Read More: Power tariff further raised at both bulk and retail levels, effective from tomorrow Incidentally the coal for the project, it is now known, will be purchased from the Adani-owned Carmichael mine in Queensland, Australia. Normally, the price of coal is calculated on the basis of the Newcastle Price Index, with purchases of high quantities or with higher calorific values enabling the buyer to avail discounts of upto 55 percent on the bulk value. For example, the provision is present in the PPA for the 1320 MW Payra power plant, a Bangladesh-China  joint venture where BPDB is benefiting from discounts on coal purchases. The amount of coal required to operate these plants typically runs into the millions of tonnes.  The annual requirement of coal for the Godda plant is estimated to be 7-9 million tonnes. But given the omission of a discount provision, Bangladesh will ultimately end up paying Adani Power Tk 20-22 per unit of electricity, once all the hidden costs are piled on top of the tariff. Read More: Retail gas prices hiked for power plants, industries and commercial users with effect from Feb 1 "Compare that to the price it pays for the electricity bought from coal-fired plants in Bangladesh, which is below Tk 12 per unit," the senior BPDB official said. He and others insist that if Adani doesn’t agree to adjust the pricing mechanism for coal in the PPA, it would be simply unviable for Bangladesh to import power from the Godda power plant. As per Power Division documents seen by UNB, Bangladesh would be paying Adani Power an estimated $23.87 billion, equivalent to almost Tk 240,000 crore (considering US dollar exchange rate at Tk 100), over the 25-year life cycle of the plant, if the PPA remains unchanged. Adani Power’s investment in the plant, including transmission lines till the Bangladesh border, have been estimated at around $2.1 billion. Read More: Adani’s 750 MW power to come to national grid in March: Nasrul Hamid

Electricity tariff was raised in Bangladesh at both retail and bulk levels, with effect from tomorrow (February 1). The Power Division — through administrative order and in two separate gazette notifications — raised the tariff. According to the new order, the retail tariff was raised at different levels of consumers. The tariff was raised for lower-level consumers by an average 5 percent to Tk 4.14 per unit (each kilowatt hour) from Tk 3.94 per unit. Bulk tariff was raised by 8.06 percent to Tk 6.70 from Tk 6.20 per unit. Enhancement in bulk tariff means, the distribution companies will purchase electricity by an increased rate of Tk 0.50 per unit from Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) while enhancement in retail tariff means, consumers will have to pay enhanced rate for using electricity. Read more: BPDB submits retail power tariff adjustment proposal seeking a 19.44 percent hike Earlier on January 13, the government raised the electricity tariff by 5 percent at the retail level with effect from January 1. At that time, the average tariff for all consumers went up by Tk 0.36 to Tk 7.49 from Tk 7.13. On November 21, the bulk power tariff was hiked by 20 percent to Tk 6.20 per kilowatt hour by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) with effect from December 1. The government recently amended the BERC Act empowering the Power Division to raise power, gas and petroleum fuel by administrative power any time it wants. Read more: CPD raises question about power tariff enhancement proposal Applying that amended Act, the new gazette notification was issued on January 30 to raise the electricity tariff at bulk and retail levels, bypassing the authorities of the energy regulator. Meanwhile, energy experts believe the tariff enhancement decision came in compliance with the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that recently approved $4.5 billion in loan to Bangladesh.

The financial loss of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is likely to cross Tk 54,000 crore in the current fiscal after the hike in the price of gas increased their input cost. In 2021-22 its losses were Tk 29,915 crore. “We have to count Tk 10,000 crore extra cost to pay the gas bills following the new gas price enhancement,” a top official of the BPDB told UNB. He said the new cost of gas purchase was already communicated to the Power Division which had already raised the issue at a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking further instruction. The government on January 18 raised the retail gas prices for public, private and captive power plants and also for industries and commercial users with effect from February 1. Also Read: Saudi firm, BPDB sign deal to set up 1000MW solar power plant in Bangladesh As per the new government announcement, the gas prices have been increased by almost three times for public and private power plants while almost double for captive power plants and industries, and significantly hiked for commercial users. However, prices for household consumers, CNG-run for motor vehicles and tea estates were kept unchanged.  The Energy and Mineral Resources Division set the prices through a gazette notification issued on Wednesday applying the new amendment to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act, which empowered the government to set all kinds of energy prices bypassing the regulator’s jurisdictions at any time. As per the gazette notification, the public and private power plants including the IPP and rental power plants will pay gas price at Tk 14 per unit (each cubic metre) instead of previous price of Tk 5.02. The rise is 179 percent. Read More: The Tk 700 crore per month hole in the deal with Adani Power The captive power plants, small power plants and commercial power plants will pay Tk 30 per unit instead of the previous price of Tk 16 which is an 88 percent rise. It means after the current enhancement in gas price, the loss in the space of one fiscal will go up by over Tk 24,000 crore, said the sources at the BPDB - an almost 80 percent jump. According to BPDB’s own latest estimates, the financial loss was supposed to cross Tk 48,000 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal from Tk 29,915 crore in the fiscal year 2021-22. But after the hike in bulk power tariff, the loss was calculated to come down by about Tk 4000 to Tk 44,000 crore. “But now the loss will go up by Tk 10,000 crore due to the gas price hike effective from February 1,” said the official referring to their latest calculation.     Read More: Saudi firm, BPDB sign deal to set up 1000MW solar power plant in Bangladesh The directorate of finance of BPDB prepared this calculation on the basis of an audited report, official sources said. On November 21, the bulk power tariff was raised by about 19.92 percent – to Tk 6.20 per kilowatt hour (each unit) from the previous Tk 5.17 – with effect from December 2022. As per the calculation, the loss has shot up excessively mainly for the two reasons — primary fuel price escalation and devaluation of the local currency. "Among the two, the devaluation of local currency emerged as the major reason," a top official of the BPDB told UNB. Read More: BPDB’s financial loss set to increase by over two-thirds to Tk 48,000cr He informed that the BPDB was going to incur a loss of about Tk 10,000 crore solely due to the high rate of dollar. Earlier, the US dollar exchange rate was calculated at Tk 85 which is now at Tk 107 which means the cost increased by Tk 22 per dollar. The BPDB has to pay about $9 billion annually to buy electricity from private sector plants, to pay capacity charges and also to import other materials from abroad for its own purposes.   The BPDB has a power purchase agreement with a huge number of private power generation companies to buy their electricity. Available statistics reveal, currently, the country’s installed power generation capacity is over 25,500 MW and more than 50 percent of electricity is generated by the private sector through independent power producers, rental and quick rental power plants. Read More: BPDB submits retail power tariff adjustment proposal seeking a 19.44 percent hike Import of electricity from India is also counted as private sector generation. The private sector operators mainly use furnace oil, natural gas and diesel. Of these, 4,700 MW is generated by using furnace oil.

Bangladesh is likely to incur a huge financial loss to the tune of about Tk 700 crore per month, once it starts importing electricity from the Adani Power-built  1,600 MW thermal power plant in Godda, Jharkhand state - due to the ‘faulty’ deal the government signed with the private Indian company. “Including the cost of coal and its transport, we have to pay Tk 2,100 crore per month to import 1,600 MW from Adani's plant at a 75 percent plant factor considering the existing rates of coal in the international market," a top official of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) told UNB. If some rules and provisions observed in other similar deals (from the private sector, coal-fired) had been maintained here, the cost could have been kept down to Tk 1400 crore per month. The country has to count a loss of about Tk 700 crore per month, working out to Tk 8400 crore annually for the faults in the deal, he added. Over the project’s life cycle of 25 years, the loss in terms of the increased cost and hidden components in the tariff Bangladesh will ultimately incur, balloons out to Tk 2.10 lakh crore - a third of the national budget - considering the current coal price, the senior official noted. Read: CPD raises question about power tariff enhancement proposal Even before coming to the hidden components, he said the tariff Adani managed to negotiate in the deal is almost double the purchase price from local coal-fired power plants, and thrice the rate of the power already being imported from India. Yet the loss will mainly be incurred due to the absence of any discount provision on the purchase of coal as fuel to operate the plant in the deal signed with the Indian business group, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the issue is highly sensitive. According to official sources, the import of electricity from the Adani plant may start from next March. Adani Power, a subsidiary of the Adani Group, the business empire led by the world’s second-wealthiest man, Gautam Adani, bagged the deal in 2015 during Indian PM Narendra Modi’s first visit to Dhaka. Adani is well-known for being close to Modi, right from the latter’s days as chief minister of Gujarat. Read: Mitsubishi Power to continue support Bangladesh power industry amid growing energy need Under the deal signed with Adani Power, a 1,600 MW coal-fired power plant was set up in the eastern state of Jharkhand, with a target to export its entire electricity to Bangladesh. As per Power Division documents seen by UNB, Bangladesh will have to pay Adani Power about $23.87 billion, equivalent to Tk 248,248 crore (considering US dollar exchange rate at Tk 104), over the 25-year life cycle of the plant. Officials said Bangladesh signed the final power purchase agreement (PPA) with Adani Power during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's New Delhi visit in 2017. Adani Group’s deal is not only faulty; the rate it is charging for its electricity is higher than rates of other coal-fired power plants. Read: Two repowering projects of 825 MW at Ghorashal Power Station fail to come on board on schedule Adani will be paid 8.612 cents per kilowatt hour (per unit), a levelised tariff for the electricity while the tariff for power purchase from a local coal-fired plant of the S Alam Group was set at 8.2557 cents per unit. The purchase rate of electricity from the Indian government (3.54 cents per unit) and private sector (7.84 cents per unit) are also lower compared to Adani's tariff. The government also had deals with other local and foreign companies at much lower rates such as Orion Khulna Power at 5.407 cents (Tk 4.35), and SEPC Taylor Power at 8.430 cents (Tk 6.78) per unit. Admitting the tariff charged by Adani is higher compared to that of other companies, Power Division officials said it is due to a number of reasons, including India’s high corporate tax and the cost of transmission lines that need to be constructed and maintained to move the electricity across borders. Read More: All liquid fuel-based power plants will be phased out over next 2 years: Nasrul Hamid The BPDB official said the lack of a provision for discounts in the purchase of the coal that will be used to fuel the plant is an oversight, considering such a provision was made mandatory in other deals that Bangladesh signed with independent power producers (IPP), where the price of coal to be purchased was kept as “pass-through”. Explaining the matter, he said Adani will purchase the coal for its power plant as primary fuel and Bangladesh will pay the price of the coal. Normally, the coal price is calculated on the basis of the Newcastle Price Index, and if any company purchases coal at a higher quantity with higher calorific value, then it gets upto 55 percent discount on the bulk value. This was the provision kept in the power purchase deal from the 1320 MW Payra power plant, a joint venture project of Bangladesh and China, where BPDB is benefiting from the discount in the price of coal. Read More: Saudi firm, BPDB sign deal to set up 1000MW solar power plant in Bangladesh “But BPDB will not get any discount in coal price which ultimately pushes up the electricity tariff from the Adani plant by at least 50 percent,” said the official who has been involved in handling the project from BPDB. As a result, if the price of electricity from Payra is calculated at Tk 12-13 per unit including the cost of coal, the price of per unit electricity from Adani plant will be about double at Tk 20-22 per unit, he added. Secondly, another fault in the deal is allowing Adani to import coal at its own choice (it even has its own coal mines) using its own ship and unloading it at its own port and then bringing the coal to its own power plant in Jharkhand via a massively elongated route. In this case, the transportation cost will go up excessively as the coal will be imported from Australia or Indonesia, both located to India’s east, and then unloaded at Adani-operated Mundra port in the Kutch district of Gujarat, a western Indian state, on Adani’s own shipping line. Read More: Govt positive about Singapore company's 400MW Matarbari solar power plant proposal: Nasrul After unloading, the coal will be transported some 2031.8 km by road from the far-western port of Mundra to the far eastern district of Godda in Jharkhand, a journey across the breast of India, to reach the power plant. The entire cost of coal purchase and transportation will be paid by Bangladesh as per the agreement, which raised eyebrows of many energy experts. If Adani purchases coal with low calorific value, then it has to import coal in higher quantities which will result in an even higher transportation cost, which would ultimately further push up the hidden component of the total tariff, said the BPDB official. Admitting the “no discount provision” in Adani’s deal, BPDB Chairman Mahbubur Rahman said since Adani will purchase the coal through open tender, there is no provision for discount. Read More: Safety features enhanced for Rooppur power plant as work goes on About the deal, when it was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, the then power secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikuas in a proposal had mentioned that the decision to import power from Adani Group was made on the basis of unsolicited offer under the 'Speedy Enhancement of Power and Energy Supply Act (Special) (Amendment) Act 2015'. "The proposal doesn't contradict the existing law, rules and regulation and no deviation was made in dealing with the matter," he said. The Power Division documents also reveal that in the tariff structure of Adani Group, the capacity charges were calculated at 3.8 US cents per unit while the variable operation and maintenance charges were at 0.1 cents per unit and the fuel price (cost of coal) was calculated at 4.7127 cents per unit. Power Division officials said Adani Group, which has experience of operating and maintaining 10,440 MW power plants in India and elsewhere, would be investing $2.124 billion to set up the 1600 MW dedicated plant in Jharkhand. Read More: Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project delayed by Russia-Ukraine War: Yeafesh Osman Bangladesh will need to construct 145-kilometre transmission lines up to the Indian border at a cost of Tk 1,000 crore while Adani group will need to build a 90 km transmission line on the Indian side to supply the electricity.