Around 40% of rural consumers are forced to pay bribe to get electricity connections, while the numbers are 10% and 15% in Dhaka and Khulna cities respectively, a survey supervised by Power Cell has found.
The findings of the survey on customer satisfaction about electricity supply were revealed in an event at Bidyut Bhaban yesterday.
“I am not happy with the survey. The sector needs to be bribe-free. We are working on this regard,” said State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid at the event.
The survey was conducted last winter by a private firm named Midas Financing Limited under the supervision of Power Cell – a wing of Power Division. It was done at the cost of Tk40 lakh, as part of an attempt to assess the performance level of three out of five state-owned power distribution utilities.
Power sector insiders, however, disagreed with the findings, saying the results were inconsistent with the reality as the study was conducted during winter – when the demand of electricity was lower than usual.
The survey mainly focused on domestic, industry and commercial consumers to verify and evaluate the data on the frequency and duration of electricity outages.
Midas Financing examined the strengths and weaknesses of the utilities in respect to customer service and provide recommendations for better customer service.
The survey was carried out in ten selected Network Operation and Customer Services (NOCS) division under both the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) and Sales and Distribution (S&D) division under the West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited and four Palli Bidyut Samiti out of 72 under the Rural Electrification Board (REB). A total of 15,000 consumers were surveyed; 5,000 from each distribution company.
Power Development Board (PDB) and Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (Desco), the two other state-owned suppliers, were not included in the survey.
A Power Division official said the PDB and Desco would not be included in the survey as the PDB covers mainly district town-based areas similar to the West Zone.
On the other hand, Desco covers the Dhaka city which is the same as DPDC and that is why there was no need to conduct the same survey in two companies operating in the same area.
