The power consumers in the district are facing extra electricity bills for not installing digital meters in their houses.
The consumers alleged that they had not been notified that they had to pay extra.
The Power Development Board realises the extra charges though the consumers who are paying their electricity bill on time, the PDB subscribers say, adding that they have to count the extra till they set up digital meters.
The city residents laid blame on the PDB officials. They said they were yet to get anything in writing in regard to the payment of additional charges.
A power consumer, Rafiqul Islam, regretted that he had to replace the analogue meter he set up in his house seven years ago. Long-time power users said their analogue meters had not caused any problems thus far and had described the government plan to instal digital meters as a way of covering the system loss created by the PDB itself.
Some alleged that the digital meters produced readings of power consumption that were higher than they should actually be.
When questioned, Executive Engineer of Power Development Board Md Jakir Hossain turned down the consumers' allegations. He said the old analogue meters could hardly read the power consumption well enough and that was why the digital meters were needed to replace them.
He said; “We are acting on the directives issued in May 2011 by the ministry concerned.”
The official claimed that the power subscribers were informed of the replacement of their analogue meters.
They were being charged extra as they had paid no heed to the directives, he added.
The engineer said 70% of the power consumers had installed digital meters in their houses in about three years and the rest would comply with the directive within the next one or two years.
He also said the government directive to install digital meters had been announced through mics in the city on last Wednesday.
There are some 44,000 power consumers in Chapainawabganj under the Power Development Board that earns revenues of Tk45,000,000 every month while the electricity bills the subscribers need to pay amounts to about Tk45,000,000.
