Anisul Islam Noor :
Titas Gas Ditribution Company got relief of paying Tk 265 crore annually as the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has approved recently two percent system loss in gas distribution.
Energy experts and rights groups have expressed deep concern adding that Titas got an opportunity of pilfering the natural resource through allowing the system loss.
They alleged that the regulator allowed a corruption system instead of taking any action against the recent irregularities.
According to the BERC order, Titas got 18.55 mmcf of gas daily through its own gas field and Gas Transmission Company Limited’s (GTCL) line in the fiscal year 2018-19. The system will count 2 percent to 360.51mmcf annually.
At present, the average value of gas per 360.51mmcf gas is estimated to be Tk 265 crore.
Replying to a query, BERC member (Gas) Md Abdul Aziz Khan said that previous methodology of system loss and gain evaluation was not good at all.
Energy Adviser of Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Professor M Shamsul Alam told The New Nation, when other companies are making gain in gas distribution system, Titas remained system loss.
“There is a gas robbery in the name of system loss of Titas. With the approval of system loss, BERC has given legal status of pilfering. This will be a bad example,” he complained.
According to sources, it is alleged that Titas has been taking gas bill from some unreasonable sectors of the customer. One of them is Minimum Charge. According to the provisions of ‘Gas Marketing Regulation-2014’, customers of residential, commercial, industrial, captive and tea-garden class may not be consumed gas or not consume, as per the value of their respective sectors based on the minimum load allowed at the end of the month. It is used to be called Minimum Charge.
In this method, the actual gas usage of the customer is always less than the minimum used. Due to lack of gas in demand throughout the month, customers are affected, but distribution companies are enjoying the benefits in this system. Titus gas is earning a huge amount every year from such minimum charge. The concerned people said that the actual gas usage of the subscriber of the Minimum Charge is always less than the prescribed minimum gas usage. But in the distribution area of Titas, gas crisis is increasing as well as this kind of billing is increasing. Titas is running the Minimum charge as a solution to the gas crisis. They are getting benefit of system gaining after gas stolen through illegal connections. Although none of the benefits go to the customer.
In an analysis of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, Titas’s earnings from from the minimum charge in the year 2016-17 amounted to Tk 395 crore.
Earlier, the distribution company earned Tk 322 crore from the sector in the year 2015-16 and Tk 258 crore in the year 2014-15. Apart from this, there are a lot of allegations of receiving extra bills from the customer. Titas is taking Tk 800 from the customer after calculating the usage of 88 cubic meter gas per month in two stoves. But as a person, the amount of gas used in two stoves is less than 65 cubic meters.
According to an analysis of Titas Gas Distribution Company’s annual report, it is shown that Titas gained in gas distribution system 1.82 percent in the year 2010-11. In the fiscal 2011-12, the system gain was 1.39 percent. But with the increase of corruption and irregularities since the last few years, system losses have increased.
Titas faced system loss in the fiscal 2012-13, the system loss entity was 0.3 percent. It has increased in the next two fiscal years. In the fiscal of 2013-2014, Titas system loss stands at 3.22 percent and in the 2014-15 fiscal was 3.88 percent. It seems that the loss is due to the illegal connection of gas, the concerned people said.
Titas is the largest entity of the country among the six distribution companies. It distributed gas in Dhaka and Mymensingh Divisions. The total number of customers is 27.34 lakh. Titas supplying 33 percent gas for electricity generation, 41 pc in captive power plants and industries and 16 pc for households.
