The government of Bangladesh is planning to allocate Tk 350 billion as a subsidy for the power sector in the upcoming national budget to cover capacity charges and other outstanding bills owed to private electricity producers. This significant budgetary allocation is necessary due to the rising debt burden on private electricity producers, including Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
Officials from the Ministry of Finance have finalized the national budget for the next fiscal year (FY) 2024-25, which will be announced on June 6. The primary purpose of the power subsidy is to clear the outstanding bills that IPPs, who supply electricity to the national grid every month, are owed. A senior finance ministry official confirmed that Tk 350 billion has been earmarked in the upcoming budget to pay these outstanding electricity bills. Capacity charges for private sector power producers are expected to exceed Tk 300 billion in FY 2025.