Anisul Islam Noor :
Electricity pilferage has been taking place through illegal connections in the city and elsewhere of the country. Illegal connections are given by a section employees of power distributing entities in exchange of money on daily and monthly basis depriving the state of a huge amount of revenue, it is alleged.
As a result of widespread pilferage about 200MW electricity is being stolen daily through illegal connections, according to guess estimates of some PDB officials who requested not to be identified. The theft takes places during the peak hours in the evening, sources said adding such demand creates serious load management problems on the one hand and financial loss for the companies on the other. The power ministry and distributing entities occasionally conduct drives for snapping of illegal connections but such drives yield little result as those using illegal connections have underhand deals with a section of relevant officials, it is alleged.
The decision to increase power tariff to curb the loss of electricity distributing entities, it is feared would not yield any tangible result unless illegal connections are successfully snapped.
What the right groups including Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) want is an end to pilferage of electricity and breaking the nexus between the illegal consumers and corrupt officials. CAB energy adviser Professor Shamsul Alam said the estimate of loss given by the companies is not convincing as they do not give details of the revenue earning and the amount of system loss. He said, ” The consumers cannot be asked to pay for the theft, which is the main reason of loss. If pilferage can be stopped there is no reason of power tariff hike.”
The government buys furnace and diesel fired electricity at Tk14 to 23 per unit, which it sells at Tk5.75 to 10 respectively. There is no alternative to increase electricity tariff hike to recover the loss, power ministry source said. “We have disconnected 30,915 electricity connections in December 2013 for not paying their due bills worth Tk22.3 crore,” an official of power ministry told The New Nation on Sunday. About 10,000 illegal connections were under PDB, 17,577 under REB, 2040 under DPDC, 2,995 under DESCO and 703 under WZPDCL, PDB sources responding to questions.
Illegal connections are given by linesmen and toll collectors through under hand deals of employees of electricity distributing entities, said a leader of city unit of Hawkers League. About Tk 25000 is collected daily in city’s Motijheel, Paltan and Gulistan areas and the money so collected is shared among Hawkers League leaders and a section of employees of power distributing entities, hawkers league leader said on condition of anonymity.
At present the government has been providing subsidy of about Tk2569 crore to five entities – Tk 750 crore to Power Development Board (PDB), Tk 662.58 crore to Rural Electrification Board (REB), Tk804 crore to Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), Tk253.58 crore to Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) and Tk 100 crore to West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZPDCL).
Syndicates backed by officers of distributing companies with linesmen of power distribution entities have developed a syndicate of giving illegal connections, it is alleged.
PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhullah, however, claimed power pilferage has reduced significantly, particularly in cities. Illegal consumers usually take connections from shops or houses having meters, he said.
“It is, however, not possible to check the pilferage always,” he added.
DPDC Managing Director Md. Nazrul Hasan said power pilferage continues despite efforts to check it. DPDC occasionally conducts drives against illegal connections to curb pilferage, he said.
