Written by The Banking Post
The interim government has cleared more than Tk 186.31 billion in outstanding electricity import bills to foreign power suppliers over the past year, according to officials from the Power Division.
Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Dr. Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan confirmed the repayments on Thursday, saying, “The government has been actively working to settle dues, including payments to Adani Power and other international suppliers.”
Of the total, Tk 50 billion was paid to India’s Adani Power Limited against its outstanding bill of Tk 79.35 billion. The remaining dues to Adani now stand at Tk 23.64 billion.
In parallel with settling bills, the government also undertook measures to reduce unnecessary expenses in the power sector, saving a total of Tk 64.79 billion so far, said the adviser.
Officials said the Power Division managed to reduce the import service charge from 9 per cent to 5 per cent, saving Tk 4.70 billion. It also increased shipment sizes to 20,000 tonnes from 15,000 tonnes to lower logistical costs by Tk 3.54 billion.
Renegotiated power purchase tariffs, now below the average selling price of Tk 8.95 per unit, are expected to save an additional Tk 25 billion annually.
The government also shut down 10 inefficient rental and independent power plants with a combined capacity of 1,010 MW, cutting costs by another Tk 5.25 billion. Public power generation companies were tasked with savings of Tk 26.30 billion as part of the overall cost-cutting initiative.
The Power Division has also requested the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to reduce the tax at source to 6 per cent. Meanwhile, the division has targeted revenue earnings of Tk 92.10 billion from renting out establishments.
In a related development, the Advisory Council in May 2025 approved in principle an amendment to the Renewable Energy Policy. The updated policy aims to generate 3,000 MW of clean energy from rooftop solar installations nationwide.
Implementation of the rooftop solar programme is scheduled for completion by December this year. Surplus electricity from the programme will be fed into the national grid.
