89pc people have access to electricity: Survey
FE Report | Tuesday, 23 January 2018
A telephonic perception survey revealed on Monday that 89 per cent people of the country have access to electricity until early 2017.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in association with Bangladesh Energy and Power Research Council (BEPRC) conducted the survey on 14,996 mobile phone users during the period between October 2016 and February 2017 to cover winter and summer both.
According to the survey, 11 per cent of the respondents said they don't have access to electricity while 7.6 per cent said they get electricity from solar panel. Besides, 82 per cent of the respondents said they are connected with the national grid.
Of 82 per cent users of national grid, 64.7 per cent are the clients of Rural Electrification Board (REB), 12.4 per cent are Power Development Board (PDB) users, Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) supplies to 1.7 per cent respondents, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd. users are 0.3 per cent, West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd (WZPDCL) supplies power to 0.1 per cent.
The findings of the survey were released at a press conference held at Bidyut Bhaban in the city.
BBS collected 121,427 cell phone numbers from six mobile operators (Grameenphone, Banglalink, Teletalk, Citycell, Airtel and Robi) with support of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
Some 14,996 cell phone users -- 73.6 per cent from rural areas and 17.9 per cent from urban areas-- finally took part in the survey.
According to the survey, 8.5 per cent of the respondents are engaged in industrial production, 12.2 per cent in irrigation and 24.9 per cent in business while 54.3 per cent do not have any economic activities.
Some 13.1 per cent of the respondents said they are not satisfied with electricity service they get. The rest 45.8 per cent said they are satisfied, 11.2 per cent are very satisfied and 29.9 per cent are moderately satisfied.
The survey said 12.1 per cent of the respondents use electricity for cooking. Most of power consumers live in city corporation and municipality areas while only 7 per cent live in rural areas.
PDB supplies 27.8 per cent electricity to industry while REB 46 per cent and other companies supply 25.8 per cent. According to the study, 4.8 per cent electricity used for irrigation come from PDB, 53.9 per cent from REB and 41.3 per cent from other companies while PDB supplies 22.4 per cent electricity to business, followed by REB 59.1 per cent and other companies 18.5 per cent.
The survey said 79.7 per cent of the respondents have trust in future programmes of the government in power sector while 5.6 per cent shows distrust and rest 14.7 per cent are not sure about the programmes. Speaking at the programme, Prime Minister's energy adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said 90 per cent people in the country accessed to electricity in last nine years.
He said though the government covered 90 per cent area of the country with electricity, but the quality of electricity supply was not ensured.
"Now we will give more attention to the quality of electricity supply," he said.
Power Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus said 4,427 MW electricity will be added to the national grid in the fiscal year 2018-19.
In May 2016, Bangladesh Energy and Power Research Council (BEPRC) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conduct the opinion survey.