Survey needed on household gas consumption

It is hard to swallow what Titas, the gas transmission and distribution company, is saying about household gas consumption. Titas in a letter early this month asked the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to re-fix the average assumed average gas consumption by a household. It came up with an explanation for such re-fixation of assumed gas consumption. It said the estimation it made last year about the consumption by a household was far more than it had estimated. It sounds bizarre.

Bizarre it is of course when the gas transmission and distribution company responsible for distribution of gas says that it has made a mistake. Is it acceptable? Is it logical? Do we have to believe in what it said? We don’t find any reason for putting our faith in its new estimation. Will it be wrong if people of the country think that it is a kind of subterfuge to hike the price of gas? And that too by a huge margin of 47 percent and 39 per cent respectively!

If we take it for granted that its assumption is correct then on what basis did it come to the decision? Did the Titas conduct any study? Did it go through any procedure acceptable to the people of the country? Why should a company of the government of such stature make such a mistake? If it did so what is the government doing? These are the questions that naturally rattle the minds of people. We are shell-shocked to hear the news that the Titas made a blunder.

If the energy regulator’s new estimation is accepted then country is going to see another big leap in the price of household gas. What is painful is people are not getting gas even after paying exorbitant price. Hike is there simultaneously with gas shortage. People will have to pay high price with literally no gas very often. The price of domestic gas may go up by 47 per cent for dual burner stoves and 39 percent for single burner one if Titas estimation is taken into consideration.

People now pay Tk1, 080 a month for a dual burner stove and Tk990 for a single burner one. If the proposal is endorsed, a total of 28.5 lakh subscribers of the Titas might have to pay Tk1, 592 for a double burner stove and Tk1, 380 for a single burner stove which are beyond the capacity of most of the people.

What is ridiculous is the estimation the Titas made reportedly wasn’t based upon any recent survey. The organization carried out the estimation in 2000-01 on 100 consumers in Gulshan and Banani areas. More interestingly the data on average household gas consumption was not based upon non-metered consumers who constitute 95 per cent of the household users, said energy expert Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury to newspapers.

Even the data presented in the letter to the BERC by the Titas on average household gas consumption is incongruous with what Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury said. The Titas said the non-metered gas connections use more gas than last year’s estimated 60 cubic metres by a dual burner and 55 cubic metres by a single burner.

While the energy expert said no consumer was found using more than 45 cubic metres. People’s back are already against the wall. They can’t afford to bear anymore. We urge the government to take the matter seriously and make a correct estimation with the help of energy experts of the country. Any decision behind any kind of smokescreen will only raise the question about the honesty of the organization. We hope the government will take an immediate look into the matter.