Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh sets clocks forward by an hour from Friday midnight aiming at easing power shortage by maximizing consumption of daylight.
The Daylight Saving Time (DST), first ever in Bangladesh, commences 11pm (local time) on Friday, according to the scheduled.
It means offices and businesses will open and close an hour ahead of the usual schedules.
With the clock running an hour ahead, Bangladesh on Friday night becomes GMT+7 from the existing GMT+6.
On June 01, Bangladesh government decided to advance the clock by an hour from the zero hour on June 19 with the objective of minimizing the prevailing power crisis.
Under the decision, the daylight saving measure begins this year from June 19 and ends on October 1, when the clock is to be set an hour back. From next year on, the clock would be set an hour forward on April 1 and set an hour beck on October 1.
The government is expecting to save 200 megawatt (MW) electricity in evening peak-hours by introducing DST, the energy ministry said.
The country experiences between 1,000MW and 2,000MW of load shedding during the peak hours daily as power demands swing from 4,800MW to 5,800MW against a supply of around 3,800MW.
At least 70 countries of the world including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Denmark, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Iran, the Philippines and Pakistan have been able save on power consumption by using the DST system.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-=19June09-3:20 am (BST)