Dhaka, Feb. 1 -- The growing uncertainty over fuel import and payment of arrears to private power plants have raised the spectre of load shedding across Bangladesh in the upcoming Ramadan and subsequent summer, sector-insiders say.

Unlike in the previous year, different areas across the country already have been experiencing load shedding, although not severely, during the ongoing winter, they point out.

With the holy month of Ramadan only less than a month away and peak irrigation season approaching, the clients fear severe outages in the coming summer if the power plants remain idle then.

Officials have said the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has struggled to make payment to the power-plant owners over the past t...