Bangladesh introduced daylight saving for the first time on Friday in a bid to conserve energy as businesses and homes struggle with increasingly frequent power cuts. Clocks would move forward an hour on Friday evening, pushing Bangladesh to seven hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) instead of six currently, state minister for power Shamsul Haque Tuku told reporters.
"We're hopeful that the initiative will save up to 200 megawatts of power per day," Tuku said. He said the change would be in place for four months initially and may be repeated if it results in less artificial light being used by factories, offices and houses.
Impoverished Bangladesh has long suffered severe power outages, especially in the hot summer months from April to October. Years of under-investment have meant state-owned power plants generate only around 4,000 megawatts of electricity a day, but demand is 6,000 megawatts and growing at 500 megawatts a year due to increasing industrialisation.