Chittagong Bureau :
With a view to reducing system loss, pilferage and bill arrears, Power Development Board (BPDB) has undertaken an initiative to install a total of 1.5 lakh pre-paid meters in 2nd phase in the port city.The installation works of prepaid meters at a cost of Taka 72.96 crore will start from July next and 1.5 lakh conventional meters would be replaced by the pre-paid ones, Probir Kumar Sen, Chief engineer of PDB, told media on Tuesday .
Of the total cost of the project, Taka 52 crore will be spent for procuring pre-paid meters and other accessories while the remaining money will be spent for developing infrastructure.
Engineer Probir Kumar Sen said over 70 thousand pre-paid meters have already reached from China as first consignment for phase two.
“Rest of the pre-paid meters are expected to arrive by the first week of July. The pre-paid metering system was introduced in the port city by December 2016,” said Probir Sen.
Residential and commercial consumers of the city’s four electricity distribution areas including Bakalia, Rampura and Madarbari will be brought under the pre-paid metering system in second phase.The PDB inked an agreement with a Chinese firm in March of this year to implement the colossal project titled “Pre-Payment Metering Project for Distribution Southern Zone, (Chittagong Phase-2)” at a cost of around Taka 72.96. crore.
Earlier, in first phase a total of 1.39 lakh prepaid meters were installed in Agrabad, Khulshi, Pahartali and Stadium in February this year. The installation work of the pre-paid meters was set to begin from November of last year.
According to the PDB sources, the pre-paid metering project is a part of installing 2.2 million meters across the country to modernize electricity billing system.
With a view to reducing system loss, pilferage and bill arrears, Power Development Board (BPDB) has undertaken an initiative to install a total of 1.5 lakh pre-paid meters in 2nd phase in the port city.The installation works of prepaid meters at a cost of Taka 72.96 crore will start from July next and 1.5 lakh conventional meters would be replaced by the pre-paid ones, Probir Kumar Sen, Chief engineer of PDB, told media on Tuesday .
Of the total cost of the project, Taka 52 crore will be spent for procuring pre-paid meters and other accessories while the remaining money will be spent for developing infrastructure.
Engineer Probir Kumar Sen said over 70 thousand pre-paid meters have already reached from China as first consignment for phase two.
“Rest of the pre-paid meters are expected to arrive by the first week of July. The pre-paid metering system was introduced in the port city by December 2016,” said Probir Sen.
Residential and commercial consumers of the city’s four electricity distribution areas including Bakalia, Rampura and Madarbari will be brought under the pre-paid metering system in second phase.The PDB inked an agreement with a Chinese firm in March of this year to implement the colossal project titled “Pre-Payment Metering Project for Distribution Southern Zone, (Chittagong Phase-2)” at a cost of around Taka 72.96. crore.
Earlier, in first phase a total of 1.39 lakh prepaid meters were installed in Agrabad, Khulshi, Pahartali and Stadium in February this year. The installation work of the pre-paid meters was set to begin from November of last year.
According to the PDB sources, the pre-paid metering project is a part of installing 2.2 million meters across the country to modernize electricity billing system.
