Power generation for public use started in 1930 when a privately owned company M/S DEVCO developed an electricity distribution system.
Private companies managed power generation and distribution system in Dhaka until the end of British rule in 1947.
An autonomous organisation named Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA) was created by an ordinance promulgated by the President in March 1990 to improve services to the consumers and to enhance revenue collection by reducing the prevailing high system loss.
DESA took over the electricity distribution system in and around Dhaka city in October 1991, but the jurisdiction of power generation remained with BPDB.
Consequently, as per government decision, after handing over the city peripherals to Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) and some parts of the Metropolitan area to Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO), DPDC area is reduced to only around 350 square kilometer, expanded in the southern part of the capital city of Dhaka and adjoining townships of Narayangonj.