Power distribution companies compiled the electricity bills for three months, instead of charging them separately for each month, leading to overbilling, which has become a burden on customers.
Sources at power distribution companies said some consumers were being overbilled to “balance” the budget deficits of these companies. Preparing the bills without proper readings is also a major factor behind the ghost bills.
As the companies compiled bills for three months, customers had to face bills on higher slabs which are higher than their usual bills.
Currently, there are six slabs or tiers of electricity pricing. With every higher slab, higher fees are charged for electricity consumed. As the bills for three months were compiled at a time instead of being based on monthly meter readings, the overall charges were also higher.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) law does not even allow billing customers for three months at a time.
Why and how it all happened
The Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Ministry on March 22, just before the government imposed a “soft nationwide lockdown” on March 26, announced that household consumers will not have to pay the monthly bills-- for March, April and May — within the deadline, and for that, they will not face any fines.
However, in June, it said the facility will not be extended after June 30 and failure to pay bills within June 30 would also lead to line disconnections.
Meanwhile, in May, most customers received ghost bills to the point of extortion.
An investigation into an electricity bill revealed how the ghost bills appeared.
According to the law, Tk4.19 is charged per unit for consuming electricity between zero to 75 units, Tk5.72 for usage between 76 to 200 units, Tk6 for usage between 201-300 units, Tk6.34 for usage between 301 to 400 units, Tk9.94 for usage between 401 to 600 units. For over 601 units, the cost is Tk11.46 per unit.
Sources said the government asked the authorities to collect the reading for three months at a time and calculate an average, as meter readers were not allowed inside houses to take readings due to the Covid-19 situation.
They also said the distribution companies messed up the system and came up with ghost billing (overbilling) rather than calculating the average properly.
A consumer from Dhanmondi and a user of Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC), paid Tk2,392 for using 413 units of electricity in March. It jumped to Tk3,361 in April, although he used only 496 units.
DPDC compiled the bills without taking proper readings and in May, the bill showed that usage suddenly jumped to 1,082 units and the bill stood at Tk10,547, which is unrealistic.
Similar complaints have been made by many other customers. Many of them complained to local distribution companies where authorities told them that the bill was so high because a reading was not taken in the previous two months, but claimed it was an average bill.
On the contrary, in the past, no customer had to pay bills in the two upper slabs if they did not use an air conditioner. But this time, many of them had to pay their bill in those slabs as bills were compiled for three months at a time, resulting in higher unit rates for electricity consumed.
Usually, each consumer is overcharged by 10-15 units for the last three months of each fiscal year. With the additional revenue, the companies can fill in their costs for system loss and maintain their performance before the government, officials said.
How the authorities defend it
In conversation with this correspondent, authorities admitted this mismanagement in the bill calculation process.
Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (Desco) Managing Director Engr Md Kausar Ameer Ali said they could not prepare bills for March and April due to the pandemic and the bills reached the upper slabs since they were prepared for three months at a time.
“We tried to come up with an average bill so that clients can pay the bills in their regular slabs,” he claimed.
DPDC Managing Director Bikash Dewan said they have formed an investigation committee at DPDC, following an order from the ministry to determine the reason for the sudden hike in electricity bills.
“So far, we have found out that 18,000 bills faced overcharging; but there were under-billings too. About 14,000 bills were undercharged. Instructions have been issued to check all the bills,” he said.
“If needed, meters will be checked again. If there are errors, it will be mentioned in the bills and we will adjust the bills if we find inconsistencies,” added the DPDC managing director.
How the events led to overbilling
● The government announced putting a hold on electricity bill collection for March, April, and May
● The above facility is not to be extended after June 30
● Average bill of three months was to be calculated to avoid overbilling in the slab system
● Lack of calculation by power distribution companies lead to overbilling
● An unrealistic bill was forced on customers in May
