The Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) says consumers should not expect an immediate improvement in electricity supply following June's tariff hike.
The additional revenue will only become available after July's bill collections, allowing the utility to purchase more fuel from August, it said.
State Minister for Power Aninda Islam Amit, Power Division Secretary Mirana Mahrukh, PDB Chairman Mohammad Rezaul Karim and Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board Chairman SM Zia-ul-Azim addressed a press conference on the country's power situation at Bidyut Bhaban on Monday.
They responded to questions on the June tariff increase, loadshedding, disparities in electricity supply between urban and rural areas, rural electricity cooperative billing, prepaid meters, capacity charges, power plant agreements and renewable energy.
Asked why consumers were still facing power outages despite the tariff increase being presented as a step towards uninterrupted electricity supply, PDB Chairman Rezaul said bills for June would be collected in July, meaning the financial impact would only be reflected from August.
"We are trying to keep power generation running. If PDB only had to pay power producers, the situation would be different. But the board also has many other financial obligations," he said.
Rezaul said higher revenue would make it easier to purchase fuel, which should help improve electricity supply.
However, he said he did not believe the country's power sector was in a very poor condition at the moment.
State Minister Aninda said Bangladesh now has electricity generation capacity exceeding 29,000MW, while recent generation has reached around 17,000MW.
He said that even if peak demand was assumed to be 18,000MW, such a large generation capacity, including a 20 percent reserve margin, was unnecessary.
The excess capacity has forced the state to bear the burden of capacity payments and subsidies.
According to the state minister, agreements signed with private power plants in previous years did not adequately protect the state's interests.
"The government is now carrying the burden of those agreements," he said.
He added that the government was highlighting flaws in the contracts during negotiations with power producers and revising tariffs in some cases. Several such revisions were made last month, he said.
