The government is going to enact Electricity Act 2015 with a provision of exporting power.
It will replace the 105-year-old Electricity Act 1910 also to incorporate a provision of the import of electricity. Both import and export would be conducted using the country’s transmission system, now being upgraded.
The new law, however, does not clarify how many days the authorities would take to provide electricity connections to consumers after submission of applications.
Considering the sensitivity, essential and public security, the law will remain beyond the jurisdiction of the Labour Act 2006.
The final draft of the proposed law has been forwarded to all ministries for their opinion, Power Division Joint Secretary Mohammad Alauddin told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
It was also uploaded on the Power Division website to garner opinions from stakeholders.
The proposed law is expected to be placed before the cabinet in two months for approval, before going to parliament.
The Power Ministry will hold a meeting soon before placing it at an inter-ministerial meeting, the joint secretary said.
“The country is not capable of exporting electricity. The export option [in the proposed law] is highly ambitious,” said Professor Samsul Alam, adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh.
“Consumers’ rights have been ignored in the draft as there is no clause for giving connections I think this law is a mockery of consumers’ rights,” he said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is in charge of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, has directed the officials on several occasions to take measures so the power sector would be kept out of the purview of labour law, an official of Power Division said.
Under the law, the government will form an independent system operator to operate a unified power system across the country.
The law would keep an option of using waste heat recovery and co-generation system.
In the waste heat system, heat emission from any factory could be used as electricity by following systems of recycling. In a co-generation system two or more forms of energy, including power, can be generated together.
The law will also allow the introduction of a smart grid system and smart meter. According to the proposed law, the government, to establish an open market, will create power market and single buyer system.
The government will also be allowed to take projects under the public-private partnership initiative to encourage investment in the power sector. A national electricity policy would also be introduced under the law.
To stop stealing electricity, the law will have a provision of awarding three years of imprisonment or maximum fine of Tk50,000 fine or both if anyone steals the highest 10kW of electricity. Above 10kW, the punishment will be five years of imprisonment and a fine of Tk1,00,000.
International lending agencies like the World Bank suggest decentralisation, popularly known as unbundling of the power sector, which drew severe criticism from a section of experts, saying that it was a part of privatisation of the sector.
The government in 2013 took the initiative to enact the new law, aiming to remove anomalies in generation, transmission and distribution.
