Overloaded transformers are causing frequent power outages, particularly in rural areas, as nearly 14.5 per cent transformers in the country are forced to operate beyond their supply capacity.
Nearly one lakh of the 6.43 lakh transformers of three power utilities are running overloaded as the number of power connections provided is far more than their capacity allows, said a Power Division report.
Overloading of transformers joined with a huge supply shortfall have resulted in a sharp rise in both frequency and duration of power outages, causing immense sufferings for the consumers amid the scorching heat of this time of year as well as interrupting boro irrigation in rural areas, a Power Division official told New Age.
To compensate for the interruptions in irrigation, the Power Division on April 11 decided to extend the time approved for boro irrigation by two hours. According to the new decision, farmers are now allowed to run electric water pumps from 10:00pm to 8:00am a day instead of the previous time slot from 11:00pm to 7:00am.
Rural clients of Palli Bidyut Samitis under the Rural Electrification Board are suffering the most due to overloading of transformers as 91,731 of approximately 6.27 lakh transformers of the samitis, or rural power associations, are running overloaded.
Rural consumers face power outage up to 15 times a day, said an REB official.
The pace of increasing the capacity of their power supply system has been slower than that at which the samities have been providing new power connections, he said.
The REB, however, had promised the consumers to raise the capacities of overloaded transformers ahead of the boro irrigation season comprising December and January.
REB chairman Moin Uddin could not be reached over telephone for his comments on the problem.
Dhaka Power Distribution Company has 1,015 of its 10,565 transformers overloaded while West Zone Power Distribution Company has 232 of its 5,563 transformers in the same state.
Power Development Board and Dhaka Electric Supply Company had not provided the power ministry with the number of transformers suffering from overloading till March, a Power Division official told New Age.
‘In most cases, power utilities are forced to provide new power connections to consumers beyond their distribution capacity due to political pressure,’ he said.
A major task of a power utility is to give electricity connections to consumers. But by providing power connections on political pressure before augmenting the distribution capacity the utilities have become enmeshed in an acute transformer overloading problem, alleged officials at the utilities.
Power distribution agencies are forced to suspend supply to one or more 11 kilo volt feeders, when a power transformer gets overloaded during the peak hours.
When a feeder becomes overloaded, the authorities have to impose a blackout in the area concerned as the demand for power then climbs above the feeder’s capacity. (Source)
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