Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the empirical cointegration, long-run and short-run dynamics as well as causal relationship between electricity consumption and real GDP in Bangladesh for the period of 1971‒2014. Design/methodology/approach Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) “Bound Test” approach is employed for the investigation in this study. Findings Both short-run and long-run coefficients are providing strong evidence of having positive significant association between electricity consumption and GDP. Our long-run results remain robust to different measurements and estimators as well. The study reveals the unidirectional causal flow running from per capita electricity consumption to per capita real GDP in the short run. The study result also yields strong evidence of bidirectional causal relationship between per capita electricity consumption and per capita real GDP in the long run with feedback. It is suggested that both electricity generation and conservation policy will be effective for Bangladesh economy. Originality/value In prior studies, lack of causality between electricity consumption and GDP is due to the omitted variables. Combined effects of public spending and trade openness on GDP and electricity consumption are also considerable.