Meter tampering mounts suffering to consumers

The readers tamper with the meters of both industrial or HT (hypertension) and residential or LT (low-tension) connections in connivance with a section of officials and consumers.

The government is incurring a huge financial loss in terms of revenue earnings following this. On the other hand, common consumers as a whole are losing faith in this utility service.

"I do check my meter regularly and keep reading in my notebook everyday but I often get embarrassed when the official bill comes to me. Because the official bill was much higher than mine," moaned Sirajul Islam, a retired person, at Kapashgola in the port city.

He said "the most surprising is that I haven't seen the reader concerned at my courtyard yet. I couldn't even guess how he prepares the reading without having a glance of the meter," he added.

The PDB centre at Reazuddin Bazar in the city is crowded with complaints of excessive or unrealistic bills without any care by the officials concerned.

"I use only two fans and four florescent bulbs at my small shop at Chawk Bazarbut with bills beyond my imagination and belief," said Jasimuddin to this correspondent at the PDB complaint centre on Saturday.

He said " my shop was closed for about six months two years ago but I had received a bill of Tk 1,500 for the period."

The PDB authorities, denying the allegations, said " we generally get a small number of genuine complaints."

"We always try to solve those problems as quickly as possible," said acting Chief Engineer Saiful Haque.

Sources, however, reckon that PDB sometimes fails to deliver remedial services to the consumers due to lack of adequate manpower and meter readers.

They said the PDB in Chittagong has only 250 to 260 meter readers against more than 2.5 lakh consumers and it is really a hard task for one reader against 1,200 consumers to provide proper services.

The shortage of readers sometimes compels them to make an average bill depending on guesswork, the sources added.

The officials suggested appointment of sufficient and competent readers, supply of flawless meter, regular supervision and removal of flawed meters. They also suggested proper consideration of the consumers' complaints and solving them as quickly as possible to ensure better services and thus earn people's trust.