Govt hopes new office hours can save power: Nasrul

As the government reschedules office hours for the public and autonomous bodies, the peak demand-time for power has also been switched to earlier in the day.  

The demand for electricity for use under Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited’s constituencies has risen by 1000MW during pre-mid-day, said State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid.

Desco is a public limited company which distributes electricity at the Northern parts of Dhaka City and Tongi Town of Gazipur District.

“Now I see that peak demand started increasing from 9am,” he told journalists who asked him about the benefits of new 8am-to-3pm office hours across the country, on Wednesday.

The new schedule, which began today, is meant for saving electricity which has been expensive due to rise in oil and gas prices in the international market following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“It is our wish that if the peak hour moves from evening to daytime then we can mitigate power outages.”

The junior minister also said that the government wants to ensure that there would be uninterrupted electricity for irrigation pumps for the next 15 days from midnight to dawn across the villages.

“I think it will be possible. I can say that. Let’s see next week. If it works, I can fix the load-shedding.” He added.

Regarding load shedding, he said demand for power was 13,500 MW Tuesday night that could be around 11,000 MW on Wednesday, at the beginning of launching new office hours.