Power Division

division · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head: Iqbal Hasan Mahmud
Role: Minister
Annual budget: ৳323,922,600,000
Staff: —
Established: 1998
Legal basis: Rules of Business 1996 (Schedule I), Allocation of Business Order 2014; Electricity Act 1910 (amended); Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act 2003

Managing a summer demand-supply gap of approximately 2,300 MW while pursuing renegotiation or cancellation of the Adani Godda power purchase agreement (flagged as overpriced by 39.7%), clearing $688 million in Adani arrears in instalments, and awaiting BERC's ruling on a proposed 17-21% consumer tariff hike scheduled for public hearing May 20-21.

Recent activity

2026-02-17 appointment Iqbal Hasan Mahmud sworn in as Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources in the BNP cabinet under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman; Anindya Islam Amit named State Minister for the same portfolio. ↗↗
2026-02-23 policy New BNP government announced plans to revise the Adani Power purchase agreement, citing a National Review Committee finding that the deal was overpriced by 39.7% relative to nearest private-sector competitor and involved serious procedural anomalies. ↗↗
2026-03-15 controversy Adani Power Unit-1 at Godda went offline due to a technical fault, cutting electricity imports to Bangladesh from roughly 1,500 MW to 764 MW and directly worsening early-summer load shedding. ↗
2026-04-10 controversy Acute summer load-shedding crisis: 71 of 143 power plants idle or severely underperforming due to gas, coal, and furnace-oil shortages. Peak demand stood at 18,500 MW against available generation of roughly 16,200 MW; BPDB gas shortfall was 330 mmcfd (received 870 mmcfd against 1,200 mmcfd needed). Rural areas faced 7-9 hours of daily outages, Dhaka 1-2 hours. ↗↗↗
2026-04-17 policy Power Division announced policy of equal load-shedding distribution between urban and rural areas to address longstanding disparity where villages bore disproportionate outage burden. ↗↗
2026-04-20 procurement BPDB paid $30 million to Adani Power, averting an immediate supply cut. Outstanding dues at this point remained approximately $688 million, of which $393 million was described as undisputed. ↗↗
2026-04-28 policy Fuel loading began at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Unit-1 (2,400 MW total capacity, 1,200 MW per unit); commercial operation of Unit-1 targeted for December 2026, Unit-2 for December 2027, under revised agreements signed June 2025. ↗↗
2026-05-01 regulation Power Division confirmed Ministry: power crisis expected to ease by May as fuel supply improves, though structural gas deficit of 330 mmcfd remains unresolved. ↗
2026-05-19 regulation BERC scheduled public hearings for May 20-21 on proposed electricity tariff hikes of 17-21% at bulk and retail levels; BPDB proposed wholesale price rise of Tk 1.2-1.5/kWh from current Tk 7.04/kWh; average retail tariff currently Tk 8.95/kWh. Power sector subsidies reached Tk 580 billion in FY2024-25, driving the hike proposal. ↗↗↗

Provenance & notes

Power Division was created in 1998 when the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources bifurcated into two divisions: Power Division and Energy and Mineral Resources Division. Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud was confirmed from multiple sources (The Daily Star, TBS News, BSS). BPDB Chairman Engr Md Rezaul Karim (39th chairman, from September 1, 2024) confirmed from The Daily Star and New Age. annual_budget_bdt records the ADP allocation for Power and Energy: Tk 32,392.26 crore (= 323,922,600,000 BDT) for FY2025-26 per CPD budget analysis. This is the ADP capital figure; total power-sector expenditure including subsidies and recurrent costs is substantially higher. Adani arrears figure of ~$688 million as of April 2026 sourced from TBS News. BERC proposed tariff hike of 17-21% with public hearings May 20-21, 2026 confirmed from Dhaka Tribune and Prothom Alo. Rooppur fuel loading confirmed April 28, 2026 from Prothom Alo English. Verification: all key claims cross-checked against 2+ independent primary sources.

Power Division

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