Residents across Patuakhali district have been suffering due to frequent power outages after one of Payra Thermal Power Plant's two units was shut down on June 26 for maintenance.

Jitendranath Roy, a resident of Baufal upazila, said, "The frequent power cuts have left us amid much suffering and discomfort. Also, the HSC and equivalent examinations are going to start from June 30. The students are facing difficulty to study due to load-shedding."

"The 1,320 MW plant is now able to produce only 660 MW power with one operational unit since June 26. As such, load-shedding has become unavoidable as the power generation is much lower compared to the demand," said Shah Mani Ziko, assistant manager (investigation) of the plant.

An assistant engineer of Patuakhali grid, wishing anonymity, said, "Total demand for electricity is 100 MW in Patuakhali district, but it is getting only 50 MW since Wednesday.

The power generated at Payra plant is also supplied to Barishal, Khulna and Dhaka divisions through the Power Development Board.

"A total 14 MW electricity is required for 32,000 consumers in Patuakhali Municipality, but the supply has been around 10-12 MW since Wednesday. As a result, load-shedding has become unavoidable," said Dean Mohammad Muhim, executive engineer of Patuakhali's West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited.

Shah Mani Ziko added, "The Payra power plant needs at least 45-50 days of maintenance annually to generate power without interruption for the rest of the year. The maintenance works will continue for another four or five days. After that, power generation will resume to full capacity".