Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL) is going to install 1,20,000 more prepaid gas meters in households to stop theft, waste and illegal use, collect bill in advance and increase the company’s managerial efficiency along with establishing discipline.
To this end, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council has already adopted a project. It is expected that the consumers will get the facility by 2022, according to TGTDCL officials.
Engr. Ali Iqbal Md. Nurullah, Managing Director of TGTDCL, said ‘Preparations are now underway to install the meters. We hope it will start from the month of March. However, we have already installed around 2 lakh 12 thousand 500 prepaid gas meters in our distribution area.’
Titas, in a survey, has found that after commissioning prepaid meters, a household using a double-burner stove consumes gas worth Tk 605 per month on average. On the other hand a household without a prepaid gas meter needs to pay Tk 975 to use a double-burner stove. Therefore, using prepaid meters can save Tk 370, or 38 percent.
In fact, most of the prepaid meter consumers say they need a maximum of Taka 500 per month for gas. Some prepaid consumers can cook for 3 months with gas of only Taka 1000.
The monthly bill at taka 975 has been fixed with the estimate that each of the consumers will use 77.38 cubic meters of gas per month. However, it has been proved by pre-paid meter users that no customer uses more than 45-50 cubic meters of gas per month.
The new prepaid gas meters will be installed under the ongoing 'Prepaid Gas Meter Installation Project'. With this, 3 lakh 20 thousand customers of the capital are coming under the prepaid gas meter facility.
In 2015, Titas Gas Distribution and Transmission Company Limited had planned to install pre-paid gas meters in Dhaka with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Bangladesh government. The project was supposed to be completed in January 2016. However, in the same year, the duration of the project was extended till December 2020 through the first amendment. At the end of the stipulated period, it was seen that prepaid meters could not reach the premises of many customers in five years as per the target.
If all domestic gas users get prepaid meters, 53 BCF (billion cubic feet) of gas worth Tk 1,900 crore will be saved every year.
However, gas prepaid meter installation work of six state-owned gas distribution companies is going on at a very slow pace. The total number of residential consumers under the six gas distribution companies is currently around 43 lakh. Among them, only three lakh consumers have got prepaid meter connection. TGTDCL, the largest gas distribution company, has 28 lakh 46 thousand 419 residential consumers. Of these, only two lakh 12 thousand 500 consumers have pre-paid meters.
According to experts, if the gas distribution companies can ensure prepaid meters for all domestic gas users, around 40 percent less gas would be burned, as consumers would be frugal. Since it was not implemented, the country loses huge quantity of gas, mainly through the burning of more gas unnecessarily. Secondly, gas is being stolen through illegal connections.
There are allegations that if the theft can be stopped, the illegal income of the dishonest employees of the gas distribution companies will be reduced. Due to this, they are reluctant to install the prepaid meters.
Analysts say there are still more than 60,000 illegal connections across the country. But distribution companies have no systems loss. The largest gas distribution company Titas Gas, once made a system gain (that is, it sold more gas than it bought). According to analysts, the companies have taken a tactical position to adjust the amount of gas that is being stolen every day.
Energy expert professor M Tamim said the theft in the gas sector cannot be stopped in any way unless pre-paid meters are installed. It has been shown in a research that pre-paid meter consumers burn 40 percent less gas.
