State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that a six-step program is being taken to collect pending electricity bills and to rectify any irregularities.
He made the remarks during a question-and-answer session in the Parliament on Monday, reports Bangla Tribune.
Responding to a question from Mahfuzur Rahman of Chittagong-3 constituency, the state minister said the government had announced a general holiday from March 26 to prevent coronavirus infection and an area-based lockdown was implemented.
Considering the situation, the government allowed paying the electricity bills for the month of March, April and May by June 30 without any surcharge.
As a result, most of the customers refrained from paying their bills, which has created a huge backlog.
The state minister said that the measures taken to collect the dues include not to accumulate the units for several months and charge more units at once, to make separate electricity bills for each month, not to charge more tariff by billing more units at once, rectifying incorrect or excessive bills immediately, to prepare the electricity bill for the month of May (which is being made in June) properly by taking meter readings and to create the opportunity to pay the electricity bill from home through mobile, bKash, G-PAY, RobiCash,and other online services.
Responding to a question from ruling party Member of Parliament Nurunnabi Chowdhury, the state minister for mineral resources said gas would be extracted from 20 out of the 27 gas fields discovered so far in the country.
Gas can be extracted from Bhola North gas field by setting up a process plan. Extraction has been stopped due to depletion of field gas in Rupganj and Sangu gas fields.
The issue of gas extraction needs to be re-evaluated considering the limited gas reserves, commercial viability, legal complexities of the remaining four gas fields.
The minister said the number of new wells dug in the last five years (from 2015 till date) is 25.
Previously, many consumers were slapped with a huge cumulative bill for the month of March, April and May which was not in proportion with their electricity consumption.
