Bangladesh faces power shortage as Adani reduces supply over unpaid debt

A subsidiary of Adani Power, Adani Power Jharkhand Limited (APJL), has reduced its power supply to Bangladesh by half due to an unpaid debt of $846 million, according to local media agencies.

A news agency reported that the plant cut its supply on the night of Oct 31, based on data from Power Grid Bangladesh PLC.

Bangladesh, which is experiencing a shortage of more than 1,600 megawatts (MW) overnight, is facing difficulties due to this power outage. Currently, only 700 MW are being produced by one of the two units of the 1,496 MW Adani plants.

Adani had already informed the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) of this action, issuing a letter on Oct 27 requesting that payments be made by Oct 30.

The letter stated that if payment was not received, the company would be forced to halt supply in accordance with the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), which began on Oct 31.

The letter noted that the PDB had neither submitted the required $170.03 million letter of credit through Bangladesh Krishi Bank nor settled the larger outstanding sum.

Although the board has paid off some of its previous debts, a PDB official revealed that Adani's recent price increases have raised costs since July.

While Adani's charges now exceed $22 million per week, the PDB has been making weekly payments of about $18 million, resulting in a backlog.

A supplementary agreement, originally established to manage coal pricing, had kept rates low until it expired. Since then, Adani has reverted to calculating coal pricing using the PPA, which combines the Indonesian and Australian Newcastle coal indexes.

This change has increased PDB costs amid dollar shortages and financial strain.

Adani has requested payment settlement from Bangladesh's interim government in recent months. According to Section 13.2(1) of the PPA, the company is still entitled to capacity payments while the supply is suspended.