13 districts to get 1m smart prepaid meters

The Bangladesh Power Development Board will install one million smart prepaid meters in 13 districts in a bid to curb non-technical system losses, and collect revenue in advance from consumers.

Making the disclosure, a senior official from the planning ministry said, “The board recently submitted a project proposal in this regard to the planning commission, to secure approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

Following approval, the initiative “Smart Pre-Payment Metering Project in Distribution Zones of BPDB” will be implemented in Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban, Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Cumilla, Brahmanbaria, Feni, Noakhali, Kishoreganj, Tangail, Mymensingh and Sylhet.

According to the proposal, the project is estimated to cost around Tk 709 crore, of which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Tk 333.93 crore, government exchequer Tk 189 crore and the BPDB Tk 185.96 crore.

Main components of this project are the purchase and installation of 9,70,000 single phase and 30,000 three-phase smart prepaid meters. The board plans to implement this project by June 2024.

The BPDB currently supplies electricity to 33 lakh customers, and non-technical system losses are relatively high in their existing metering system. This issue is making it difficult for the utility company to collect bills from consumers.

Following installation of the smart prepaid meters, customers will have to pay their bills in advance, causing the non-technical system losses to decrease, says the project proposal, adding that around 12 lakh BPDB customers are now under the smart prepaid meter service.

The BPDB project is a part of the power division’s target to install some 8.8 million smart prepaid meters across the country through different state-run power distribution companies, planning commission officials told The Business Post.

According to official statistics, the distribution companies have so far installed 38,71,124 single and three-phase smart prepaid meters till January 31, 2021.

Of these, the BPDB installed 13,19,350 smart prepaid meters, Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) installed 11,10,568 and Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) installed 5,20,844.

Moreover, the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) installed 555,225 meters, West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZPDCL) 3,51,698 meters and Northern Electric Supply Company Limited (NESCO) installed 13,439 meters.

According to the power division plan, the BPDB will install 32,52,338 smart prepaid meters, while the BREB 3,00,00,000, DPDC 14,00,017, DESCO 10,23,450, WZPDCL 12,77,346 and NESCO 16,10,587 across the country in multiple phases.

The division also plans to bring 386,28,851 consumers under the smart prepaid metering system through six distribution companies by 2023.