Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will launch an ‘energy audit’ soon to investigate the alleged oil theft by haphazardly orchestrated fuel-fired power plants, official sources said.
They said the oil theft has taken a serious turn in private sector power plants than that of the public one.
A total 42 fuel-guzzled (diesel and furnace oil) power plants are in operation in the country to generate electricity. Of them, private sector entrepreneurs are running 24 of such power plants and 18 by the government.
“We are going to initiate an ‘energy audit’ soon to look into the matter,” Dr Selim Mahmood, a member of the BERC told The New Nation on Friday.
He said the fuel-fired power plants are consuming excessive diesel and furnace oil beyond their actual requirement. This was reported to us from various corners.
“Taking the issue seriously, the BERC has decided to launch the audit,” he said, adding, “A rise in fuel-oil use by the power plants is not only pushing up electricity prices but also putting burden on the consumers.
Selim Mahmood further said once the audit is completed, it will ensure fair use of energy by the power plants and consequently it will help prevent drainage of the national exchequer.
“We are supplying oil to the power plants as per agreement inked with them earlier,” said Md Abduhu Ruhullah, Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).
He added: BPDB is not supplying fuel oil beyond their requirement as mentioned in the deals. So, how they pilfer oil I do not understand.
Taking the issue into cognizance, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has also launched an investigation into the matter.
The ACC in a letter to the BPDB Chairman sought necessary documents relating to fuel supply deals and quantity of fuel oil that it supplied to the power plants.
In a similar move, the Power Cell in 2012 formed a body to probe into the matter and assess the fuel use by the fuel-fired power plants.
The body found that the fuel consumption by the power plants went up by 7.0 per cent from that they were supposed to use.
“It also put forward some recommendations to the government to stop misuse and theft of oil. But the concerned ministry did not come forward to implement the suggestion following strong opposition from the sponsors of the rental power plants,” said an official of the Cell.
“Poor management and wrong policy planning by the government policy makers is leading to corruption in the power sector,” said Prof Dr Shamsul Alam.
He said most of the oil-fired power plants are reportedly being engaged in fuel theft but no action is yet to be taken against them owing to nepotism in contracts during setting up such power plants.
“The government has apparently failed to prevent the fuel theft by the sponsors of the rental power plants. Rather, it formulated reckless tariff mechanism to help charge exorbitantly for the electricity they produced bypassing their crime to the consumers,” he observed.
Dr Shamsul Alam further said a pragmatic alternative to rental and fuel-fired power plants is needed to be in place to address the issue of oil pilferage.
Bangladesh’s installed electricity generation capacity now stands at 10,341MW and the maximum generation hit at 7418 MW as on July 18 this year. Of the total generation, rental power plants contributed to near about 3000MW electricity.
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will launch an ‘energy audit’ soon to investigate the alleged oil theft by haphazardly orchestrated fuel-fired power plants, official sources said.
They said the oil theft has taken a serious turn in private sector power plants than that of the public one.
A total 42 fuel-guzzled (diesel and furnace oil) power plants are in operation in the country to generate electricity. Of them, private sector entrepreneurs are running 24 of such power plants and 18 by the government.
“We are going to initiate an ‘energy audit’ soon to look into the matter,” Dr Selim Mahmood, a member of the BERC told The New Nation on Friday.
He said the fuel-fired power plants are consuming excessive diesel and furnace oil beyond their actual requirement. This was reported to us from various corners.
“Taking the issue seriously, the BERC has decided to launch the audit,” he said, adding, “A rise in fuel-oil use by the power plants is not only pushing up electricity prices but also putting burden on the consumers.
Selim Mahmood further said once the audit is completed, it will ensure fair use of energy by the power plants and consequently it will help prevent drainage of the national exchequer.
“We are supplying oil to the power plants as per agreement inked with them earlier,” said Md Abduhu Ruhullah, Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).
He added: BPDB is not supplying fuel oil beyond their requirement as mentioned in the deals. So, how they pilfer oil I do not understand.
Taking the issue into cognizance, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has also launched an investigation into the matter.
The ACC in a letter to the BPDB Chairman sought necessary documents relating to fuel supply deals and quantity of fuel oil that it supplied to the power plants.
In a similar move, the Power Cell in 2012 formed a body to probe into the matter and assess the fuel use by the fuel-fired power plants.
The body found that the fuel consumption by the power plants went up by 7.0 per cent from that they were supposed to use.
“It also put forward some recommendations to the government to stop misuse and theft of oil. But the concerned ministry did not come forward to implement the suggestion following strong opposition from the sponsors of the rental power plants,” said an official of the Cell.
“Poor management and wrong policy planning by the government policy makers is leading to corruption in the power sector,” said Prof Dr Shamsul Alam.
He said most of the oil-fired power plants are reportedly being engaged in fuel theft but no action is yet to be taken against them owing to nepotism in contracts during setting up such power plants.
“The government has apparently failed to prevent the fuel theft by the sponsors of the rental power plants. Rather, it formulated reckless tariff mechanism to help charge exorbitantly for the electricity they produced bypassing their crime to the consumers,” he observed.
Dr Shamsul Alam further said a pragmatic alternative to rental and fuel-fired power plants is needed to be in place to address the issue of oil pilferage.
Bangladesh’s installed electricity generation capacity now stands at 10,341MW and the maximum generation hit at 7418 MW as on July 18 this year. Of the total generation, rental power plants contributed to near about 3000MW electricity.
