Tk 1893cr electricity bill unpaid by govt ministries & depts, Nasrul tells JS

State minister for power Nasrul Hamid on Tuesday said the power department will get Tk 1893 crore as unpaid electricity bill from various ministries and departments of the government till September this year.

He also said that considering the average daily production of 2300 million cubic feet of gas, it will be possible to use the remaining gas for nearly 11 years (10.8 years).

Hamid said that the power division will get maximum amount Tk 905.21 crore from local government department and Tk 395.68 crore from the ministry of disaster management.

In response to a query from ruling Awami League MP Md. Mozaffar Hossain, he said by strengthening supervision and implementing various activities at the field level, it has been possible to reduce the amount of electricity bill in arrears in the past few years.

He said that the government has taken various initiatives including setting an annual target for reducing in the Annual Performance Agreement (APA), holding inter-ministerial meetings for collection of dues from different government organisations, preparing list of bill defaulters and taking steps to recover them and disconnecting electricity, if necessary, to collect the unpaid electricity bills.

He also said that all the customers are being brought under prepaid/smart meter to reduce the arrears in electricity bills.

In response to a query from AL MP Shahiduzzaman Sarker, the state minister said according to the latest (July 1, 2022) estimate, the amount of proven and potential recoverable gas reserves in the country is 28.59 trillion cubic feet.

From the beginning of gas production to till June 30, 2022, the cumulative amount of gas in the country is 19.53 trillion cubic feet.

Currently the remaining recoverable reserves are 9.06 trillion cubic feet. Considering the current average daily production of 2300 million cubic feet of gas from the gas field, it will be possible to use the remaining gas for 10.8 years (nearly 11 years).

The mentioned time may be increased or decreased if daily rate gas production is decreased and if gas production is increased following invention of new gas field, he added.

In response to another question, the state minister said that since Bangladesh needs to import LPG, if the price does not decrease in the international market, there is no opportunity to reduce the price of LPG in the domestic market without government subsidy.

In response to Nizam Uddin Hazari's question, the state minister said that from the financial year 2009-10 to 2021-22, $28.3 billion have been invested in the electricity sector.

Of this, $9.73 billion have been invested in the private sector for electricity.

In response to Jatiya Party's Rustam Ali Farazi's question, Hamid said BPC is making a loss of Tk 21 per liter in selling diesel.

In response to AL MP M. Abdul Latif’s query on countrywide ongoing load shedding, Hamid said that due to the global energy crisis following the Russia-Ukraine war, Bangladesh is trying to overcome the energy crisis through economical use of electricity and planned load shedding.

He said, as per the plan, the new coal-based power plants will be connected to the grid and by ensuring the cost-effective use of electricity, it will be possible to overcome the crisis soon.

BNP MP Harunur Rashid came down heavily on the government for what he said widespread looting, corruption and mismanagement in power and energy sector.

Harun proposed that the Speaker arranges a discussion on this issue in Parliament.

In reply, Hamid blasted Harun for the past BNP-Jamaat government’s alleged involvement in corruption in the power sector.