The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD200m loan to support the modernisation and reinforcement of Bangladesh’s power distribution network in peri-urban areas surrounding the capital, Dhaka, with the objective of improving electricity reliability for households and businesses (ADB press release, 23/09/2026).
“The Power Distribution Network Enhancement Project will support the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) in upgrading electricity distribution infrastructure across 13 Palli Bidyut Samities (PBSs)—or electric cooperatives—serving rapidly growing industrial and urban areas around Dhaka. Under the ADB-supported Integrated Growth Network Development initiative, the project will help address overloaded substations, aging infrastructure, power losses, and increasing natural hazard risks that constrain electric service delivery.”, according to the statement.
- The project will add 1,150 MVA of new transformer capacity across 52 substations, while increasing the capacity of 12 existing substations by 115 MVA.
- It will also involve the construction or upgrading of more than 2,600 km of overhead and underground distribution lines.
Although Bangladesh achieved universal electrification in 2022, the ADB said that rapidly rising electricity demand, driven by urbanisation and industrial growth, continues to place greater pressure on the power network.
According to our data, electricity consumption is increasing very rapidly (around 8%/year since 2010); in 2024, it grew by 4% to 100 TWh. Households consume the largest share of the country’s electricity (49% in 2024), followed by industry (38%) and services (10%) (2024). The share of industry has fallen by 18 pp since 2010, to the advantage of households (+17 pp) (Enerdata Global Energy & CO₂ Data).
Transmission and distribution (T&D) losses stood at 10% in 2024 (14% in 2013). A portion of the T&D losses corresponds to power leakage, which has been substantially curtailed. However, the target of reducing T&D losses to 9% in 2020, as set in the Seventh Five-year Plan (2016-2020), has not been reached (Enerdata Global Energy Research).
In parallel, power generation in Bangladesh is growing very rapidly (7%/year on average since 2010), reaching 101 TWh in 2024, according to our data. Natural gas accounted for 77% of that amount, coal for 14%, oil for 7%, and hydro for 1% in 2024. Since 2010, 2/3 of the increase in power generation has come from gas (+5%/year) and another 22% from coal (+21%/year).