Entire Bangladesh including its capital Dhaka will experience nagging electricity outages as the country's Power Development Board (PDB) is seemed unable to meet the demand of power during the upcoming peak summer season, officials said on Thursday.

They said in Bangladesh during the peak summer season, usually from mid-March to mid-October, power demand goes up to its highest level because of hot weather as well as a huge need for irrigation by farmers.

Electricity shortage during summer season would range between 1, 300 megawatt (MW) and 1,500 MW even if the PDB could maintain 3, 700-4,000 MW generation against the demand for 5,500 MW, a power ministry official told Xinhua on Thursday.

Towfiq-e-Eahi Chowdhury, Energy Adviser to Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Xinhua, "We've taken a number of measures including power rationing to minimize public suffering due to acute shortages of electricity."

According to control room of Bangladesh's Power Ministry, the country generates over 3,300 MW electricity on average against a demand for more than 4,500 MW currently.

The power ministry official said the PDB's average highest generation capacity during peak hours of last summer was about was 3,700 MW against demand for nearly 5,000 MW.

At present, he said Dhaka is being provided with 1,185 MW of electricity against a demand of about 1,800 MW, causing much suffering for the city dwellers throughout the day and night. The demand will rise to around 2,100 MW when the peak summer time arrives, he said.

Against this backdrop, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina on Wednesday told the parliament that about 911 MW electricity would be added to the national grid by June this year while another 960 MW electricity would be added by end of 2012 under short and medium term plans.

Hasina also said her government had undertaken plans to add about 2,135 MW power to the national grid by 2014 under a long term plan.

The prime minister earlier said her government will set up a nuclear power plant and take initiative to seek a regional cooperation with neighboring countries to resolve the power crisis in the country.

According to a government assessment in 2006, the country's expected demand of power will be 6,066 MW in 2009, 9,786 MW in 2015 and 13,993 MW in 2020.

Hasina said 746.5 MW power would be added to the national grid by June this year from a number of independent power plants (IPPs) and 165 MW through overhauling of two power plants.

However, officials said, if the IPPs and two power plants even come into operation, then the question will be raised where they would get fuel. They said power generation in existing plants are below their capacities due to fuel shortage.

"We are thinking of utilizing our gas at the maximum level, but still it needs sometime to analyze the whole situation," Chowdhury said.

The impoverished South Asian country has limited coal and natural gas reserve and its gas supply, used for generate electricity and fertilizer, is short of demand.

Chowdhury said rationing power to make do with the deficient output was decided recently in a government meeting.

It was decided that the power distributing companies will make their consumers aware of the possible load shedding through different media to minimize their sufferings, Director of Power Cell under the Power Ministry Abdul Mannan said.

He said the meeting also asked the officials concerned to strictly maintain the power-supply embargo on the city's shopping malls after 8 p.m. at night in line with a decision taken earlier.