Dhaka, September 11, 2025 — Bangladesh has significantly increased electricity imports from India and boosted production at its oil-fired power plants to meet rising domestic demand, industry officials and analysts said.
According to a report by Indian news outlet Business Standard, electricity imports from India rose 70% in the first seven months of this year. Most of this power came from a coal-fired power station operated by Adani Power.
Until recently, Bangladesh relied heavily on natural gas to generate electricity — nearly two-thirds of its power came from gas as recently as 2020. But with infrastructure challenges and the need to cut costs, the country is increasingly turning to electricity imports and ramping up coal-based production.
“This is about cost efficiency. Gas is crucial for fertilizer production, whereas electricity from oil and other sources can be obtained at a competitive price,” said Adiba Aziz Khan, Director of Summit Power, in an interview with Business Standard on the sidelines of the APEC Summit.
She added, “There isn’t enough gas for power generation, and the supply system faces problems. In the future, we may no longer see gas-based electricity generation at all.”
A Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) official, requesting anonymity, said low gas pressure has kept power plants from operating at full capacity, while coal-fired generation has been reduced due to maintenance work.
“The government had very few options,” the official said. “To avoid load-shedding, it began importing more electricity, and Adani’s power supply was available in sufficient quantity to meet demand.”
Government data shows that electricity imports accounted for 15.4% of total supply in the first seven months of this year, up from 9.5% last year. Oil-based generation also rose slightly, from 11.9% to 12.6%.
Shafiqul Alam, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), said, “Since March, when demand started to rise, the government had to rely on imports and oil-fired power generation.”
Meanwhile, data from analytics firm Kpler shows Bangladesh’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) rose 24% over the same period. However, gas-based power generation actually fell by 1.2%, suggesting that much of the imported LNG was not used for power production.
