ZCZC
BSS-21
SMART-PREPAID-METER
Govt eyes to install 72.81 lakh smart prepaid metres
DHAKA, Nov 10, 2018 (BSS) – The government has set a target of installing 72.81 lakh smart prepaid metres across the country under the Seventh Five Year Plan period through various power distribution companies.
“The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to improve the load management system through reducing system loss and ensuring easier services,” State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told BSS here today.
He said the state-owned Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) has set a target to install 12 lakh smart prepaid metres, adding, “The DPDC has already installed some 2,72,319 smart prepaid metres and process is going on for installing more 1,15,181 smart prepaid metres,”
Hamid went on saying, “The DPDC will install 6.50 lakh smart prepaid metres by June 30, 2021 and also reserve some 200,000 metres for reinstallation anytime,” Nasrul Hamid said.
According to the project details, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a Taka 657.95 crore project to install 6.50 lakh smart prepaid metres and bring 200,000 smart prepaid metres by 2021 starting from July, 2018.
Through major initiatives by the government, most part of the capital city and its adjoining district Narayanganj would be bought under the smart prepaid electricity regime.
With the implementation of the project, it is expected that the system loss would be reduced significantly with the installation of the smart prepaid metres.
Apart from this, the service by the state-owned DPDC would improve further while the load management would be easier due to better assessment.
Presently, the DPDC has been rendering services to some 11.76 lakh consumers while the highest demand for electricity reached to 1,551.30 MW.
The officials said that the successful implementation of the projects would enable the government to install prepaid metres almost in all areas of the capital.
BSS/SPL/SAS/KU/1835 HRS