Severe Energy Crisis Rocks This Country, City in Darkness – Residents "Suffering in the Heat"
A severe energy crisis is currently battering Bangladesh amid a “scorching heatwave” sweeping the nation. The country has been forced to implement mass power outages due to a shortage of fuel supplies, stemming from the escalation of war in the Middle East that has disrupted global supply chains, all while temperatures reach 40°C in most regions.
This situation has compelled the local government to enforce load-shedding policies because of the high public demand that does not match the available production capacity. Citing an AFP report, the suffering of residents has reached a low point due to the combination of extreme heat and the loss of electricity supply.
Mashuka Yasmin Mishu, a 35-year-old mother of two from Pabna district in the northwest, complained about her family’s difficulty in resting. “Neither my children nor I could sleep last night because of the frequent power outages. The weather is extremely hot,” said Mishu on Friday (24/04/2026).
Mishu added that although power disruptions are not new there, this year’s conditions are the worst she has ever experienced. She feels deeply distressed because her family cannot even access electricity for two consecutive hours.
“We have experienced power outages before,” she added. “But this year, we cannot get electricity even for two hours in a row,” Mishu continued.
This crisis stems from Bangladesh’s heavy dependence on energy imports, with the South Asian nation importing 95% of its oil and gas needs. Most of these supplies come from the Middle East, whose shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have been disrupted since the war broke out at the end of February.
A senior official from the Ministry of Energy, Umme Rehana, provided an official explanation to journalists on Thursday regarding the technical constraints faced by the government. Rehana acknowledged that the power generation infrastructure is actually adequate but hampered by the lack of raw materials.
“We have a large power generation capacity,” she said. “But due to the shortage of gas and fuel, we cannot utilise it,” Rehana stated.
The gap between demand and production was also confirmed by the Deputy Minister for Power, Anindya Islam Amit, when speaking before parliament on Friday. Amit presented technical data showing that national electricity demand has reached 16,000 megawatts, while operating power plants can only generate 14,126 megawatts.
Amit further explained that this measure is taken as a form of equitable energy distribution between urban and rural areas. The government has decided to trial outages in the capital to ease the burden on farmers also affected by the intense heat.
“Limited power outages are necessary,” Amit stressed before the council members.
“To ensure fairness, we have decided to introduce limited and experimental power outages of 110 megawatts in Dhaka. It is unacceptable for city dwellers to enjoy comfort while farmers suffer,” Amit clarified.
In addition to the electricity crisis, long queues lasting hours have also occurred at various fuel stations (petrol stations) in Bangladesh throughout this week. Nevertheless, Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud sought to calm the public by stating that the phenomenon was triggered by residents’ panic.
“The country has sufficient fuel reserves,” Mahmud concluded, while blaming panic buying as the main cause of the long queues in the field.