Home ›› 21 Sep 2022 ›› Front
Due to the ongoing gas shortage, many high-efficient power plants have been sitting idle for a while now but Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company is allegedly still providing connections to new captive power plants and increasing supply to some existing ones by violating the government’s directives.
Many factory owners have claimed that a strong syndicate led by some corrupt Titas officials is doing this business by taking large amounts of bribes.
Titas is unable to supply gas to the existing industrial generators as per the demand but it’s still giving new connections against money, alleged at least five factory owners during a public hearing organized by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) in May.
In August 2015, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division ordered Titas and other gas distribution companies to not approve any new gas connections for captive power plants until further notice. Captive power is the electricity produced by an industrial plant’s generator.
After introducing rolling power cuts across the country in July, the government prioritised gas supply to industrial and commercial customers to ensure uninterrupted power and the continuation of business and the economy. Gas accounts for 50.84 per cent of the country’s power generation, furnace oil 27.69 per cent, coal 7.89 per cent, diesel 6 per cent and others 7.58 per cent, according to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) data.
BPDB says the country currently has a captive power generation capacity of 2,800 megawatts (MW) but only produces 1,400 MW. Petrobangla says the captive power plants’ daily gas demand is 600 million cubic feet.
A BPDB member said they had to shut down the combined cycle power plants to meet the captive generators’ demand. “If that gas was sent to the power plants around the country, we wouldn’t need load-shedding and would’ve ensured uninterrupted power supply to factories.”
Experts say that most of the captive generators have been less efficient for a long time and their electricity generation capacity is also low. They have been saying for a while that supply to these industrial generators should be stopped and the gas should instead be sent to the combined cycle power plants.
The Power Division has also made the same claim and said BPDB will ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to industrial plants through special lines if the captive plants are closed.
But the factory owners did not agree to this proposal because they think using electricity from the national grid will cost more than their generators.
The business Titas doing
According to BERC sources, a Titas board meeting held on July 21 approved increasing gas supply to the captive power plants of two factories — Square Apparels Limited and BJ Bed Weaving Ltd.
In another board meeting on April 26, Titas approved new captive connections to two factories. Before that, on April 9, it also either gave new connections or increased supply to 16 factories.
A senior official of Titas held Md Haronur Rashid Mollah, the managing director of the country’s largest gas distribution company, responsible.
Requesting anonymity, the official told The Business Post that Haronur kept approving these applications for his benefit at a time when the government is forced to ration gas by closing down power plants and CNG refuelling stations.
The Business Post tried to reach Haronur several times but he was unavailable for comment.
Mohammad Ali Khokon, president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, claimed Titas was not supplying the required amount of gas. “Because of that, it’s become difficult to keep the factories running. But they are giving new connections. This is unfair.”
Energy expert Professor Shamsul Alam said gas should not be supplied to inefficient captive power plants. “Some dishonest people are behind this and they are making money in the wrong way by doing that.”
Regulatory agency Power Cell’s Director General Mohammad Hossain said, “We have told the factory owners on many occasions that electricity will be supplied to the industry through dedicated lines and if Power Division fails to do so, we’ll even pay a penalty. But they did not agree.
“At present, the crisis has made it very difficult to supply gas to the captive generators. Under the circumstances, giving out new connections is even more unfair.”
