Bangladesh Grid Failure Cuts Generation by 5,370MW, Disrupting Dhaka and Chattogram

More than a third of electricity generation lost in an hour

Bangladesh's electricity generation fell by 5,370 megawatts within an hour on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, as a national grid disruption cut power to eastern Dhaka, parts of Narayanganj and parts of Chattogram. The Secretariat and Bangladesh Bank were among the institutions affected.

Power Grid Bangladesh PLC recorded generation of 14,719MW at noon and 9,349MW at 1pm. That amounts to a fall of about 36.5%, or more than one third of the electricity being generated before the disruption. The outage began at 12:43pm, according to the grid operator.

By 3pm, generation had recovered to 10,825MW. Power Grid said connections had been restored in most affected areas, while the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) was working to bring power plants back into operation. A senior BPDB official expected conditions to become more comfortable by around 10pm.

The recovery involved two connected tasks: restoring the transmission network that carries electricity across the country and restarting generating units that had stopped producing power. Engineers were restoring connections in stages under the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC), which controls the national grid.

Which places lost electricity?

Power Grid identified Gulshan, Rampura, Ullon and Motijheel among the affected parts of eastern Dhaka. Bhulta, Haripur and Siddhirganj in Narayanganj also lost supply, along with parts of Chattogram. Outages were also reported in Dhaka's Moghbazar, Banasree and Khilgaon neighbourhoods.

The Secretariat, which houses government ministries, went without electricity for nearly an hour. Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, also lost power. The interruption therefore reached both residential areas and major government and financial institutions during the working day.

Power Grid said electricity supply remained operational and normal in northern Bangladesh and other unaffected areas. The disruption was concentrated in parts of the country even as the national generation figures registered a steep decline.

A line fault identified, with the technical cause still under examination

Power Division officials attributed the interruption to a fault on the Meghnaghat-Haripur national grid line. BPDB member for production Md Zahurul Islam said the precise technical cause still had to be established by Power Grid Bangladesh PLC, the state transmission company.

The line fault identifies the part of the network that officials associated with the disruption. Power Grid's technical examination must explain how the incident developed and how it affected generating plants and electricity connections across the affected areas.

A national grid connects power stations to the transmission lines that carry electricity towards homes, offices and businesses. Generation and delivery have to remain closely coordinated. When a major connection is disrupted, operators may need to restore both the lines and the plants supplying them in a controlled sequence.

Power Grid said engineers were reconnecting areas gradually under NLDC control. BPDB was coordinating the return of generating units with the grid operator so that electricity production could rise while the transmission system was being stabilised.

Gas and coal plants account for most of the fall

Gas plants suffered the largest reduction in output. Their combined generation fell from 4,382MW at noon to 1,734MW at 1pm, a loss of 2,648MW, or about 60.4%. They were producing less than half their earlier output within an hour.

Coal plants also recorded a sharp decline, from 4,863MW to 2,947MW over the same period. That was a reduction of 1,916MW, or about 39.4%.

Together, gas and coal plants accounted for 4,564MW of the 5,370MW national decline, approximately 85% of the total. Changes in output from other sources accounted for the remaining 806MW.

A megawatt measures the rate at which electricity is being produced or used. These figures show the generating output at particular times, rather than the total electricity lost throughout the outage. They give a measure of how sharply production changed between noon and 1pm.

What the afternoon figures show

Power Grid's generation data showed an initial recovery by 3pm, when national output reached 10,825MW. That was 1,476MW above the 1pm low, recovering about 27.5% of the output lost during the initial decline.

Generation at 3pm was still 3,894MW below the noon level, a gap of about 26.5%. The figures show why reconnecting neighbourhoods and rebuilding national generation could progress at different speeds: restoring a local connection is one task, while returning large generating units to their earlier output is another.

Islam said hourly generation updates had not been published beyond 3pm because the grid operator was occupied with restoring the system. The afternoon figure was therefore the latest generation reading he cited, while his comments about further improvement described work still in progress.

The day's main developments followed this sequence:

• Noon, October 27: National electricity generation stood at 14,719MW.
• 12:43pm: The grid disruption interrupted supply in eastern Dhaka, parts of Narayanganj and parts of Chattogram.
• 1pm: Generation had fallen to 9,349MW, down 5,370MW from noon.
• 3pm: Generation had recovered to 10,825MW.
• Around 10pm: BPDB expected conditions to reach a more comfortable level as generating units returned.

Power plants begin returning to operation

Islam identified Bibiyana-3 and RNPL Unit-1 among the plants contributing to the recovery. Several units were resuming operations, while others were increasing production towards their full operating output.

He also referred to a generating unit with a capacity of roughly 353 to 355MW that was moving towards full output, and a plant with a capacity of 412MW preparing to start a unit. He expected the gradual return of plants to improve conditions over the following four to five hours.

Islam, the BPDB member responsible for production, described his expectation for the evening:

I hope the situation will come to a comfortable level by 10pm,

The 10pm estimate concerned improvement in operating conditions. Engineers were still increasing generation and restoring connections in stages, so the recovery depended on both parts of that work advancing together.

Connections restored in most affected areas

Power Grid said most affected areas had regained electricity as emergency restoration continued. The company apologised to customers for the temporary inconvenience and said it expected to reconnect the remaining areas shortly.

In its emergency statement, the grid operator described the progress and its expectation for customers still waiting:

Power connections have already been restored in most affected areas. We hope to ensure electricity supply to the remaining areas within a short time,

The company's update focused on connections to affected areas, while BPDB's evening estimate focused on the recovery of generation. For residents and office workers, the immediate change was whether electricity had returned locally. For grid operators, the continuing task was to rebuild supply across the network while keeping it stable.

The Secretariat's interruption lasted nearly an hour, providing one specific measure of the outage's duration at a major institution. Other affected neighbourhoods were being reconnected through the phased restoration process.

Earlier failures show the scale of Bangladesh's recovery challenge

Bangladesh experienced a major eastern grid failure on October 4, 2022. That disruption began at 2:05pm and left large areas, including Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Mymensingh, without electricity. Supply returned gradually over periods ranging from three to eight hours.

An earlier national grid failure on November 1, 2014, interrupted electricity across the country for nearly 12 hours. Both incidents required a gradual restoration of supply across affected areas.

Tuesday's disruption again affected the eastern part of the network, but Power Grid said northern Bangladesh and other unaffected areas continued receiving normal supply. The immediate recovery effort centred on reconnecting the affected areas and restoring the 5,370MW of generation lost between noon and 1pm.

By the latest cited generation reading, more than a quarter of that lost output had returned. Power Grid's statement that most affected connections were restored offered a further sign of progress, while BPDB's 10pm expectation set the next time marker for improvement.

Key Points

• The outage began at 12:43pm on October 27, affecting eastern Dhaka, parts of Narayanganj and parts of Chattogram.
• National generation fell from 14,719MW at noon to 9,349MW at 1pm, a decline of about 36.5%.
• Gas and coal plants accounted for 4,564MW, approximately 85%, of the lost output.
• Generation recovered to 10,825MW by 3pm, still below the noon level.
• Power Division officials identified a fault on the Meghnaghat-Haripur line; Power Grid was responsible for establishing the precise technical cause.
• Power Grid said most affected connections had been restored. BPDB expected conditions to improve by around 10pm.
• Northern Bangladesh and other unaffected areas continued receiving normal electricity supply.