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The Power Division Thursday formed a central implementation and monitoring committee to improve the power situation by 30 days.
Power Cell Director General BD Rahmatullah will head the committee that consists of 14 power division engineers.
The committee will monitor the overall power distribution and load management round the clock.
State Minister for Power Anwarul Kabir Talukder revealed this Thursday at a meeting with the power sector entities.
Top officials of the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA), Power Development Board (PDB), Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO), Rural Electrification Board (REB) and West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDCO) have been asked to submit their plan of action by Tuesday next.
The power sector entities will submit their plans outlining the procedure of load management that suit their operation.
Talukder said there is no power shortage in off-peak hours. So, load-shedding should take place during peak hours only.
"The respective power sector entities are responsible for the off-peak hour load shedding," Talukder said.
He also sought the name of top 100 defaulters of the respective power sector entities with clarification of the arrears that remain outstanding for a certain period.
High Officials of the Power Division said there is a large amount of outstanding electric bills pending with Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA).
They said the WASA has its own generators, which were installed in late 80s, to run its water pumps at the time of load-shedding.
But, due to lack of maintenance most of the generators are inoperative now, they said.
Responding to the allegation, the state minister said that the power division would send a letter requesting the WASA to stop using electricity for running its water pumps for two hours daily, which will help ease the power crisis.
Except for some sensitive feeders, load distribution should be equal in other areas, he said.
The state minister termed the load shedding schedule 'useless' as power failure is taking place without following any time schedule.
PDB Chairman ANM Rezwan said the 120 megawatt Barapukuria power plant will start operation by August 20, which will increase the power production to 3450 mw.
Earlier, the Power Division has shut the production of the plant for overhauling.
The state minister for power expressed his dissatisfaction over the delay in resumption of power production by Tongi power plant having a generation capacity of 105 mw. Sadrul Ulla, an American university professor, said the national load despatch centre is not functioning properly as it has no mechanism to receive information from the sub-stations.
The power ministry is developing a system for 'data acquisition', which will ensure the data reading from the substations to load despatch centre, said Lutifur Kabir, a professor of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
The state minister for power stressed the need for a gas purchase agreement saying: "The power division has been using gas without purchase agreement, which should be signed within a short time."
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