16 May 2024 Prothom Alo online as a letter published by a journalist titled ‘How much is the price of a meter, why do you have to pay rent for it year after year’ has come to my attention. Reading the article may create anger towards the power department in the minds of common people. The text contained some incorrect, vague and misleading information.
The Government of Bangladesh is gradually introducing smart prepaid meters in the entire region to develop the electricity distribution system with the aim of building a Smart Bangladesh. In the article, the price of single phase prepaid meter is said to be Tk 1600, but in fact single phase prepaid meter of different brands is available in open market between Tk 5500 to Tk 6000.
The meter rent is not deducted every month from the customer who supplies meter from open market. The prepaid meter which is provided free of cost by the cable office, the meter fee is deducted by Rs.40. If the life cycle of a single phase meter is 10 years, then the customer will pay Tk 4800 meter rent in 10 years, which is less than Tk 6000.
The journalist may have meant three phase meter by main meter. Three phase meters are provided by PDB in distribution areas of Bangladesh Power Development Board. Each three phase meter costs Tk 22,723. If the customer wants to take the meter on rent, then 250 rupees is deducted per month.
If the life cycle of a three phase meter is 7 years, the customer will pay Tk 21,000 for meter rent in 7 years, which is less than Tk 22,723. If the customer buys the meter with his own money, then the customer never has to pay the meter rent.
In single phase meter customer can use maximum load of 7.5 KW and in three phase meter customer can use maximum load of 50 KW. The journalist mentioned that both a small customer and a big customer have to pay at least 70 or 90 rupees, which is wrong information.
Customer pays demand charge as per his authorized load every month. If the prepaid meter uses more load than the permitted load, the meter will be switched off immediately.
Demand charge is to be paid once every month only when there is electricity connection. Demand charge does not depend on rich-poor, but depends on permitted load and tariff. For example, if the permitted load of a small residential customer is 2 kW, according to the latest retail price of electricity, the demand charge is Rs. 42 per kilowatt of residential load, then the small residential customer has to pay the demand charge of Rs. The unit electricity price will be Tk 5.26 except for Palli Vidyut Samiti, in case of Palli Vidyut Samiti the electricity bill will be at the rate of Tk 4.63.
Again, suppose a large residential consumer has a higher permissible load, if his permissible load is 7 kW, he will also have to pay a demand charge of Rs 42 per kilowatt of residential load, then he will have to pay a demand charge of Rs 294 per month, and if he consumes 1000 units of electricity per month, he will have to pay the first 75 units 5.26 for the next 125 units, 7.20 for the next 100 units, 7.59 for the next 100 units, 8.02 for the next 100 units, 12.67 for the next 200 units and 14.61 for the next 400 units. Electricity bill will be at rate. The reporter claims that small consumers and large residential consumers are charged the same amount of demand charges, which is baseless. Electricity bills are determined by different tariff rates. Apart from this, if the power factor is less than 0.95 for three phase consumers above 20 KW, they have to pay power factor penalty charge as per the rules.
Power sector is a service organization of Bangladesh government. The government of Bangladesh provides huge subsidies to the power sector every year. The journalist claims that various distribution companies are doing business by installing poles on land, but not paying land rent for the poles, which seems like a childish argument. Most of the 11kV distribution lines are placed along the road. Only 0.415 KV LT line has to pass over crop land to supply electricity to the customer, which is in the interest of the entire customer. For the land used for construction of electric tower, compensation shall be paid to the owner of the affected land in the manner prescribed by the rules, as stated in Section 12 of the Electricity Act-2018.
Md. Mokammel Tarfdar
Assistant Engineer
Sales and Distribution Division-3
BPDB, Sylhet