Palli Bidyut no more boon to rural people
Palli Bidyut Samity office at Patiya in Chittagong. Photo: STAR
Subscribers of Palli Bidyut Samity (PBS) in Chittagong have been facing loadshedding seriously due to energy crisis and government's irresponsibility, officials said. The subscribers, most of them are of lower and middle income groups, said they have complained to the authorities concerned in this regard without any result. There are three PBS units in Chittagong. Unit-1 (Patiya) covers Chandanaish, Satkania, Lohagara, Banskhali, Anwara and Boalkhali upazila and Karnaphuli thana, Unit-2 (Raozan) Rangunia upazila and Unit-3 (Hathazari) covers Mirsarai and Sitakunda upazila. The purchase rate of electricity is Tk 2.70 per unit but the selling price varies on economic condition of the locality. The number of subscribers in Patiya is 2.8 lakh while daily demand in peak hour is about 55-60MW. Officials said it almost fulfilled the demand from the middle of August to September 10 and reduced the loadshedding from four to two hours during the peak hour and there is no loadshedding in off peak hour. Hathajari unit has about 82,000 customers where peak hour demand is 45MW daily while it gets only 23MW. The number of subscribers in Raozan unit is about 1.65 lakh where demand in peak hour is 42MW daily while it gets only 20 to 22MW. Masuma Akhter, a resident of Paharika Housing Society under Hathazari PBS unit, said they get electricity for 10 to 15 hours a day, causing suffering to the people of this locality. Masuma said due to loadshedding they can not preserve food items in refrigerators. Residents in Raozan almost have same complaint and alleged that though they pay all the charges, they do not get proper services for a long time. Tutul Banerjee, owner of a mechanical shop at Fakirhat in Raozan, said they can not repair items in time due to loadshedding. The PBS officials, on condition of anonymity, said for lack of proper help from the government they could not meet half of its demand when the other service institutions in energy sector get the minimum electricity to meet their clients' demand. They said, "The government will be happier if they can close PBS as it is always a losing project." The officials said though PBS has been in loss for many years but the government did not take any initiative to cover this loss from 2004. They said only five, out of 70 PBSs, are making profit while others have been fighting for existence. Deputy General Manager of Chittagong PBS-3 Mridul Kanti Chakma said if they had industries as in Dhaka or Chittagong city, they could have covered the loss by giving connections to them on commercial rate. Raozan PBS General Manager Sakhawat Ullah and Patiya PBS General Manager Md Yousuf said Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission increased price of electricity several times but PBS could not raise the price in sync, incurring losses. Raozan PBS General Manger Sakhawat said Power Development Board (PDB) makes the bill observing the metre of the grid, not the user's affordability. Patiya PBS General Manager Md Yousuf said they purchase electricity on an average at Tk 5.16 while it sells on an average at Tk 4.41, causing net loss of about Tk.0.75. Yousuf said his PBS incurred a loss of Tk 10 crore last fiscal year.
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