A new additional fee has been imposed on residential prepaid meter users, while the nation has been grappling with a gas shortage for the past two months, resulting in inconsistent gas supply for both residential and industry users.
Residential customers expressed confusion over the decision, so the company had to explain its reasoning. Users of residential pre-paid meters contend that this is an unfriendly policy that will make it difficult for them to keep track of their monthly expenses and budget.
Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company announced a monthly extra charge of Tk200 to cover the expenses linked with operating and maintaining each residential pre-paid meter. The updated meter charge is set to start from January 2024 according to their statement published on Monday this week.
Residential users claim they are forced to cook with electric heaters and wood fire, which eventually increases costs. Most of the time in the day there was no gas in the line. Owners of export-oriented industries are struggling to maintain production by purchasing alternative fuels at high prices.
For all pre-paid meters, the government has kept the cost of residential gas at Tk18 per cubic meter.
For dual burner stoves and single-burner stoves, the estimated monthly average gas consumption is 88.44 cubic meters and 76.65 cubic meters, respectively. In this case, the average monthly bill for a double-burner stove is Tk1,600; however, after adding the additional Tk200, the total amount of the monthly bill is Tk1,800. On the other hand, monthly line-gas users in homes pay Tk1,080 for each double-burner stove.
The company stated that residential prepaid meter charges across all gas distribution companies under Petrobangla have been standardized at Tk200, effective from January.
Shariful Islam, a resident in Uttara expressed uncertainty about the issue. He says, it may seem from the authority’s point of view that the required charge is a mere or lump-sum, but for us it is a solid burden. Another person from Mirpur area Shubhra said, for low income people like him it is unbearable.
Titas Gas pre-paid meter Project Director Eng Syed Abu Nasr Md Saleh told Bangladesh Post that it is called ‘Meter Rent’, but it should not be addressed as ‘Extra Charges’, either way customers will have to repay. He said, the customer never purchased the meter, so a meter has a cost.
Titas Gas clarified in a recent statement that the monthly fee covers the expenses of prepaid meters, which total about Tk25,000 over the course of a ten-year lease. These expenses, which were all covered by loans, comprise the purchase, installation, web system, meter, and server upkeep. Titas stressed that the switch to monthly billing is intended to simplify customer services by spreading out the cost of the meter over time as opposed to requiring a large upfront payment.
In addition to publishing notifications, the authority regularly prepares its customers by sending SMS messages to their mobile phones, according to Titas Gas General Manager Aparna Islam, who spoke with Bangladesh Post.
In order to make things easier for the customers, the charge has been set as a long-term minimum installment. This is because the customers are required to pay back the pre-paid meter purchase, installation, and maintenance fees. The company initially paid for the installation of the meters. Now is the moment to confirm each client's ownership.
Sources said, Titas Gas is committed to bringing 82% of households under prepaid metering within five years from 2023, with two new projects.
These projects, estimated at Tk6,234 crore, are financed by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and internal funds. Once completed, they will increase prepaid metering coverage to 81.79%.
General Manager and Company Secretary of the TGTDCL Md. Lutful Haider Masum told Bangladesh Post, the installation of prepaid meters not only enhances gas usage efficiency but also helps detect leakages, reducing environmental impact by curbing methane and carbon dioxide emissions.
Titas Gas officials emphasized that while the company officially serves 26.63 lakh households, the actual figure is closer to 28 lakh. Plans are underway to bring 100% of households under the prepaid metering system by 2030, pending a feasibility study.
Titas covers the largest area in the country, including greater Dhaka and greater Mymensingh. The discovery of a huge gas field on the bank of the Titas River in Brahmanbaria in 1962 created a new horizon for the utilization of natural gas and Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited was born on November 20, 1964.
Titas is now in a process of installing 1.1 million prepaid meters in Dhaka division covering just over half of its residential customers. 128,000 prepaid meters are being deployed in the Rajshahi division, covering the entire residential customer base of Pashchimanchal Gas Company Limited.
The decision to implement prepaid metering follows an earlier pilot of 200,000 prepaid meters conducted by Titas Gas, which was launched in 2015 and found that the system seemed to have successfully increased consumer awareness in combating waste of natural gas, thus creating the potential for savings in residential consumption.
Besides, Bangladesh industry also suffers acute gas shortage. The ceramics and fertilizer industries are in dire straits, with insufficient gas pressure causing production halts and compromising product quality. Bangladesh Textile Mills Association president Mohammad Ali Khokon on Monday said Bangladesh’s textile sector had been facing a shortage of gas for the past couple of years and the production of the sector came down to 50 per cent in 2022. In the first month of 2024, the production in the sector has come down to 40 per cent as the supply of gas remained suspended in many industrial belts, he claimed.