26.10.04
Bangladesh Power Development Board...
(PDB): Revelation of its Corrupt Nature
Last month when we received the electricity bill we were totally baffled. For the 7 meters that we have in our building, on an average we usually get less than 400TK per month. 3 meters are for our use and the others are for the renters. But for the last 4 months the bills began to increase steadily. Last month it became 800taka per month. I talked about this sudden increase in the bill with the PDB officials but couldn’t get any satisfactory answer. They told me that the government has increased the price. They have nothing to do with it. But when one of our renters went to the PDB office he learnt a different story from his friend who is the executive engineer there. Here is what he said:
There is a slum in our locality. The slum dwellers take illegal connections from the electricity pillar from which electricity is distributed to every house (some factories and shops also use illegal connections). This illegal usage of electricity of the slum dwellers doesn’t bring a penny to the government. It is said to be ‘system loss’, although it doesn’t fit for to be called ‘system loss’. In this way at times ‘system loss’ is shown over 50%. Now to avoid this so called ‘system loss’ if the government create pressure upon the PDB officials, the chief executive engineer instructs his staffs to bring more money to government at any cost to cover-up this system loss. The PDB officials don’t disconnect the illegal connections because of the bribe they receive from them. So they increase the bill of the legal users. On papers the users will then receive bills lot higher than the actual bills that their meters indicate. You may not have even consumed at all but you will have to pay a big bill. Actually you are in this case paying someone else’s bill. Suppose your meter’s reading is 2000 Unit, you may find that in official paper it is stated that you have consumed over 3000 Unit. When the official amount goes too high they will simply say that your meter is not functional and will give you bills as they please. Now if you question farther they will say, “Okay, as you are saying your meter runs correctly… we will have to investigate.” They may then send your meter to Dhaka for inspection. And if you don’t bribe those Dhakait employees, your meter will be said to have fault. They will say. “Your meter moves slower than usual. Now, you have been using this meter for 2 years. For these 2 years because of your faulty meter you escaped paying the government in total 8,000TK. You will have to pay this money to the government.”
They will not finish here. For a new meter and getting it installed you will have to pay another 4,000TK that is in total 12,000TK. And one more thing, at the same time you will have to give the PDB employees tips for being so kind to you to take so much trouble to get you a nice new faultless meter. And behave well with them with patience (it is better if you can smile a bit while you talk with them) unless you want to go through the same process half a year later. Have a nice…. (ERROR!!! The writer’s electricity is gone).
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I’m back…
Look at the marked area. In this month the bill came much higher than the actual amount. Our one renter went to his friend who is the executive engineer in PBD office of Chittagong and got his bill corrected. Here is that copy of his bill.
In this bill you can see that the Present Reading is 5330 units and the Previous Reading is also 5330 units but consumed unit is 200. When I asked about it to the PDB officials they said our meter is not functional. They made 4 of our meters nonfunctional although these meters were bought only 3 years ago. Out of the 3 other meters that they left as to be functional, one is 25 years old.
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Last month when we received the electricity bill we were totally baffled. For the 7 meters that we have in our building, on an average we usually get less than 400TK per month. 3 meters are for our use and the others are for the renters. But for the last 4 months the bills began to increase steadily. Last month it became 800taka per month. I talked about this sudden increase in the bill with the PDB officials but couldn’t get any satisfactory answer. They told me that the government has increased the price. They have nothing to do with it. But when one of our renters went to the PDB office he learnt a different story from his friend who is the executive engineer there. Here is what he said:
There is a slum in our locality. The slum dwellers take illegal connections from the electricity pillar from which electricity is distributed to every house (some factories and shops also use illegal connections). This illegal usage of electricity of the slum dwellers doesn’t bring a penny to the government. It is said to be ‘system loss’, although it doesn’t fit for to be called ‘system loss’. In this way at times ‘system loss’ is shown over 50%. Now to avoid this so called ‘system loss’ if the government create pressure upon the PDB officials, the chief executive engineer instructs his staffs to bring more money to government at any cost to cover-up this system loss. The PDB officials don’t disconnect the illegal connections because of the bribe they receive from them. So they increase the bill of the legal users. On papers the users will then receive bills lot higher than the actual bills that their meters indicate. You may not have even consumed at all but you will have to pay a big bill. Actually you are in this case paying someone else’s bill. Suppose your meter’s reading is 2000 Unit, you may find that in official paper it is stated that you have consumed over 3000 Unit. When the official amount goes too high they will simply say that your meter is not functional and will give you bills as they please. Now if you question farther they will say, “Okay, as you are saying your meter runs correctly… we will have to investigate.” They may then send your meter to Dhaka for inspection. And if you don’t bribe those Dhakait employees, your meter will be said to have fault. They will say. “Your meter moves slower than usual. Now, you have been using this meter for 2 years. For these 2 years because of your faulty meter you escaped paying the government in total 8,000TK. You will have to pay this money to the government.”
They will not finish here. For a new meter and getting it installed you will have to pay another 4,000TK that is in total 12,000TK. And one more thing, at the same time you will have to give the PDB employees tips for being so kind to you to take so much trouble to get you a nice new faultless meter. And behave well with them with patience (it is better if you can smile a bit while you talk with them) unless you want to go through the same process half a year later. Have a nice…. (ERROR!!! The writer’s electricity is gone).
.
.
..
…
I’m back…
Look at the marked area. In this month the bill came much higher than the actual amount. Our one renter went to his friend who is the executive engineer in PBD office of Chittagong and got his bill corrected. Here is that copy of his bill.
In this bill you can see that the Present Reading is 5330 units and the Previous Reading is also 5330 units but consumed unit is 200. When I asked about it to the PDB officials they said our meter is not functional. They made 4 of our meters nonfunctional although these meters were bought only 3 years ago. Out of the 3 other meters that they left as to be functional, one is 25 years old.
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