Highlights:
- Adani supplied Bangladesh’s most expensive imported electricity in FY2024-25
- Adani electricity cost 59% more than other Indian suppliers combined
- Bangladesh paid Tk14.86 per unit for Adani electricity
- NVVN supplied the cheapest imported electricity at Tk7.58 per unit
- Bangladesh began importing Nepal hydropower at Tk8.35 per unit
- India’s electricity transmission charges to Bangladesh fell 17% in FY25
Indian Adani Power Limited (Jharkhand) Limited remained the most expensive source of imported electricity for Bangladesh in the fiscal 2024-25, costing more than other cross-border suppliers.
An analysis of the Power Division’s financial statements and the Bangladesh Power Development Board’s annual report shows that electricity imported from Adani cost nearly 59% more than the combined weighted average tariff charged by three other Indian power suppliers.
Bangladesh imports electricity from four Indian suppliers under separate agreements: Adani Power, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN), Sembcorp Energy India Ltd, and Power Trading Corporation of India Ltd (PTC India).
The power development board paid an average of Tk14.86 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for electricity imported from Adani in FY25. In comparison, the combined weighted-average tariff for the other three suppliers was Tk 9.33 per unit.
The gap was even wider when compared separately.
Adani’s tariff was nearly 96% higher than NVVN’s weighted average cost of Tk7.58 per unit, while it was about 46% higher than PTC India’s Tk10.20 per unit and 45% above Sembcorp’s Tk10.22 per unit. Compared with electricity imported from Nepal, which cost Tk8.35 per unit, Adani’s tariff was nearly 78% higher.
During FY25, the power board purchased 101,187.17 million kWh of electricity from all domestic and imported sources costing Tk121,420.16 crore.
The average power tariff rose to Tk12.10 per unit in FY25 from Tk11.35 a year earlier, marking a Tk0.75 per unit increase.
Currently, Bangladesh has 2,656MW of cross-border power import agreements with India and 40MW with Nepal.
Adani Power
In FY25, Bangladesh imported 8,030 million kWh of electricity from Adani’s Jharkhand plant, paying Tk11,933.44 crore at an average tariff of Tk14.86 per unit.
In FY24, it imported 8, 170 million kWh and paid Tk12,146.96 crore, with the average tariff standing at Tk14.87 per unit.
Cost breakdown of other Indian suppliers
Bangladesh imports electricity from NVVN through three separate cross-border corridors.
In FY25, the 250MW corridor supplied 1, 840 million kWh at Tk4.42 per unit, making it the cheapest among all import routes.
The 160MW Tripura corridor supplied 477.67 million kWh at Tk10.64 per unit, while the 300MW corridor delivered 2, 520 million kWh at Tk8.46 per unit.
In FY24, the respective per-unit costs were Tk4.18, Tk9.17 and Tk8.08.
Overall, Bangladesh imported 4, 840 million kWh from NVVN in FY25, costing Tk3,457.82 crore, resulting in a weighted average tariff of Tk7.14 per unit, up from Tk6.86 in FY24 – an increase of 4.12%.
As Bangladesh pays wheeling charges separately to the grid corporation, the average cost rose to Tk7.58 per unit after adding Tk211.71 crore in transmission charges.
Even after including wheeling costs, the Tripura corridor remained NVVN’s most expensive route at Tk 10.64 per unit.
Bangladesh also imported 1, 620 million kWh from PTC India in FY25, paying Tk1,651.32 crore, ending up into an average tariff of Tk10.20 per unit, compared with Tk9.29 in FY24 – an increase of 9.8%. The PTC agreement includes transmission charges.
Meanwhile, Sembcorp supplied 1, 920 million kWh of electricity in FY25 and earned Tk1,957.56 crore, with the average tariff standing at Tk 10.22 per unit, down from Tk10.43 a year earlier, marking a 2% decline.
Unlike NVVN, wheeling charges are already included in Sembcorp’s power purchase agreement.
Nepal
Bangladesh began importing hydropower from the Nepal Electricity Authority in 2025.
In FY25, it imported 15.83 million kWh of electricity costing Tk132.25 million, resulting in an average tariff of Tk8.35 per unit.
Transmission costs fall
Bangladesh separately pays transmission, or wheeling, charges to India’s grid corporation for electricity imported through corridors.
In FY25, the grid corporation transmitted 4,840 million kWh of electricity and charged Bangladesh Tk211.71 crore, down from Tk270.45 crore for 5, 130 million kWh in FY24.
As a result, the average transmission cost fell 17.08% to Tk0.437 per kWh from Tk0.527 per kWh, while total transmission payments declined 21.72%, despite electricity imports through the NVVN corridors dropping by only 5.6%.
Among the three routes, the 250MW corridor recorded a 3.8% rise in per-unit transmission cost.
The 160MW Tripura corridor saw transmission costs per unit more than double as imports fell sharply, while the 300MW corridor posted the biggest improvement, with per-unit transmission costs dropping 59.2%.
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