Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company has raised the emergency balance of pre-paid household consumers to Tk2000 from existing Tk200 during the government-declared holidays, said Ali Mohammad Al Mamun, managing director of the company.
Normally, a Titas Gas pre-paid consumer receives gas of up to Tk200 as an emergency balance to continue gas flow in his oven in the event of running out of current balance.
“But now the pre-paid consumers will get gas of up to Tk2000 as emergency balance”, Mamun said on Thursday.
He said Tk2000 of gas means a four-month equivalent of gas as normally a consumer uses gas to a maximum of Tk500 a month, reports UNB.
The increase in the emergency balance amount means the consumers need not recharge their pre-paid cards during the holidays as they will get time to use the emergency balance, he added.
The Titas Gas chief executive said, despite the emergency measures the vendors and its designated bank—UCB is instructed to cooperate with the consumers to recharge their gas balance.
The names of recharge vendors and bank are available on the official websites (titas gas.org.bd) of the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd.
Titas Gas officials further said these measures have been taken in line with the government’s decision to relax the gas bill payment during the government-declared holidays to prevent coronavirus outbreak.
As per the decision, the household consumers will not be charged extra for delayed payment of gas bills until June this year on the face of the coronavirus outbreak.
An official circular issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division said a huge number of household consumers have to attend the banks to pay gas bills which may increase the risks of coronavirus transmission.
Considering the deadly outbreak, the government has decided to relax the household consumers’ bill payment timeframe as defined by Gas Distribution Regulations 2014, it said, adding that the consumers can now pay their bills of February-May at any convenient time in June 2020 without any extra charge.
Meanwhile, the Power Division has issued a similar circular asking the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to take steps to relax the deadline for payment of February-April bills.
So, the electricity distribution companies will also take measures as per the BERC instruction to relax the time limit for bill payment.
