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Quality Power Supply Still A Far Cry
M Ahsan Shuvro, A Dhaka-based journalist with interest in energy sector: Having a boom in power generation capacity and number of consumers in the past eight years, the power and energy ministry once again failed to offer a different experience with better electricity supply to the people of Bangladesh in this summer.
People in Dhaka as well as those live in the other city corporations and municipalities and in the remote villages of Bangladesh had experienced prolonged power cuts every time nor’wester had hit an area. This time, vulnerable power distribution infrastructures, negligence of the utilities concerned and some chronic urban nuisance overwhelmed shortage of power generation capacity.
With no difference in this year, power distribution utilities in rural and urban areas stopped power supplies much before a nor’wester gathering strength and hits an area.
The official explanations remained the same with a simple confession; power distribution networks were not strong enough to sustain against the nor’westers.
Electricity supply lines often tear apart directly or indirectly by nor’westers and common people might be victims of being electrocuted by the snapped and live electricity supply lines. ‘Therefore, for the sake of public interest, we keep electricity supply suspended on feeder line until the snapped lines are identified and repaired’ — a common statement of the utility officials. Reluctance and negligence of utility officials in restoring electricity supply through repairing damaged power lines or transformers and absence of digital monitoring systems in all the substations in the rural areas had increased the duration of power cuts, in cases, for 12 hours or even more.
Experience and Reality in Rural Areas
‘People in the rural areas raise trees in proximity of the power distribution lines — sometimes those lines are snapped mostly by broken branches of the trees once nor’wester hits the area.’ ‘We try to restore the supply lines within a shortest possible time once supply disrupted.’ ‘Our staffs are trimming off the branches of trees those are in proximity to the electricity supply lines … soon the situation will improve.’
With these common words to the mass media and perhaps to the ministry as well, the distribution utility officials have been passing every summer leaving the situation unchanged for the next year. The Palli Bidyut Samitis of Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board have proven themselves as a collective failure case in taking measures (trimming off branches of trees) ahead of summer.
Expansion of rural power distribution networks without remote/digital monitoring systems with the substations is another prevailing shortcoming that, perhaps, for the first time uttered in the public domain. In April, power division secretary Ahmad Kaikaus admitted that the Palli Biduit Samitis were unable to identify if a substation goes out of order until local people inform the officials concerned. The rural electrification program has so far been implementing without automation of the substations, which is quite different from electrification in the urban areas, he said.
Some 80 Palli Bidyut Samitis now supply electricity to more than 25 million consumers in 73,200 villages using 804 units of 33kV/11kV substations. All the substations are under the open sky and they often go out of order during major season changes, particularly when winter with fog or summer with hailstorm sets in. And there is no reason to believe that the engineers and technicians of the PBSs response immediately after they receive phone calls from villagers, who are deprived of almost all citizen rights. In fact, there are instances that PBSs take two to three days to restore power supply to a vast area when a substation goes out of order.
The most frustrating matter is that modernization with remote monitoring system of the substations in the rural areas is yet to take place. The REB officials said that they were planning to pilot with three such substations around Dhaka city. It would be highly expensive and may not be feasible for the vast rural power distribution networks having less density of consumers, the assumed. Expansion of distribution networks was and is getting the priority as the power division secretary explained at a press briefing on April 26, ‘We have two options in extending power connections — to build quality power distribution networks first and then providing power connections or to extend new connections with available resources and then upgrading the networks.’ ‘We chose the second option as it is more beneficial to have electricity supply with a few power cuts a day than to have it much later,’ he said.
Urban Experience
Power supply disruptions in the urban areas, though not worse as in the rural areas, put people in immense sufferings whenever nor’wester hits an area. Power distribution utilities often took even three to four hours to restore the supply. Consumers alleged that their phone calls to emergency contact numbers were not attended most of the times, particularly if it was after 10:00pm, although the utilities announced those phone numbers available for seeking emergency supports and queries.
Flying banners, signboards, clothes or building materials during nor’wester often snap or cause short-circuit leading to power cuts for hours together. Bikash Dewan, managing director of Dhaka Power Distribution Company, who is responsible for electricity supply in a major part of Dhaka city and entire Narayanganj city, said that most of the electricity distribution lines were bare conductors causing short-circuits by hanging banners, signboards and construction materials when nor’wester hits an area. The scenario remains unchanged for years, sometimes by the same individuals, he said. In April, a 230kV transmission line at Aminbanzar in Dhaka tripped as a wet banner got tangled with the transmission line when nor’wester hit the area, said DPDC officials. In the same month, a piece of flying corrugated tin from a construction site snapped a feeder line at Baily Road area causing power cut for more than an hour, they said, adding that similar incidence caused prolonged power cuts in the area due to the same careless construction owner. The DPDC snapped the electricity supply line in punishment although restored the supply after one day with an undertaking, the officials said.The urban nuisance created by some dwellers, small businesses and construction managers added to the negligence and reluctance of the utility officials that intensified wider public sufferings.
Although it has been observed that power sector’s policymakers have been emphasizing on improving customer service and earning their satisfaction, the utility officials and staffs are far from practicing their duties. It seams they are not ready to believe that their salaries and benefits are given from the money consumers pay in electricity bills. Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, BERC, has been giving power tariff since 2009 considering the costs including those have been spent on the utility officials in salaries and other benefits. These are the facts and some stories of malfunction in the state monopolies, the power distribution utilities. But the consumers want services as they pay for it and they want to see the government and the BERC to ensure a better service they deserve. This article has been printed under a syndication arrangement with energy and power.