Bangladesh has reportedly halved its electricity imports from India’s Adani Power, citing falling winter demand and unresolved payment issues worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The move follows months of financial strain as Dhaka grapples with a foreign exchange crisis.
Adani Power, which operates a $2 billion plant in Jharkhand under a 25-year deal signed in 2017, had already reduced supply on October 31, citing overdue payments.
In response, Bangladeshi officials asked the company to maintain only half its usual supply while clearing pending dues. “Winter demand is now down, so we have told them there is no need to run both units of the plant,” Md. Rezaul Karim, chairperson of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), was quoted in a Reuters report as saying.
Adani’s plant, which can produce 1,600 megawatts, has been operating at minimal capacity since November 1. A Reuters-reviewed document showed the facility ran at just 41.82% capacity last month, its lowest this year.
One unit has remained offline, with no timeline for when full supply might resume. Last winter, Bangladesh imported roughly 1,000 megawatts monthly from Adani.
Adani is owed approximately $650 million by Bangladesh, though company sources estimate the total dues have now reached around $900 million. Payments of $85 million in November and $97 million in October have only marginally eased the burden.
A company spokesperson stated, “We are in constant dialogue with senior officials of BPDB and the government, who have assured us that our dues will be cleared soon.”
Bangladesh has been paying a premium for Adani’s electricity. In the fiscal year ending June 2024, Adani charged 14.87 taka per unit, significantly above the 9.57 taka average charged by other Indian suppliers. Retail electricity in Bangladesh is priced at 8.95 taka per unit, forcing the government to provide annual subsidies of 320 billion taka ($2.7 billion).
“Because the prices are high, the government has to subsidize,” said Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, a power and energy adviser in Bangladesh. “We would like power prices, not only from Adani, to come down below the average retail prices.”