With an aim of ensuring reliable and efficient supply of electricity, Bangladesh Smart Electric Company Limited (BSECL) is going to produce around 150,000 smart electric meters per month from next year.
As part of the consumer-friendly plan, the company will shift its factory to its own building in Khulna city.
It will meet the high demand for prepayment meter and thus save foreign currency, officials said.
The factory is a joint venture initiative of state-owned West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZPDCL) and internationally proven energy meter manufacturer and smart technical solution provider Hexing Electrical Company Ltd of China. The Bangladeshi firm has a 51 percent stake in the company, with the Chinese holding a 49 percent share. The factory started its production last year.
Engineer MdShafique Uddin, Managing Director of WZPDCL,told The Bangladesh Post, that “WZPDCL is a marginal organization. From outside Dhaka, we have set an example by forming an electrical manufacturing company jointly with a renowned Chinese company. We have set up a factory to produce smart prepayment meters for the first time in the country.”
“Currently the production capacity of the factory is 1,500 pieces of single phase meter per day. We have set a target to produce 5,000 to 6,000 pieces per day from next year. To this end, we will shift the factory to our own building. The work of design has already started. Hopefully, the new factory will be ready to go into production within the next 6 months,” he continued.
“There are plans to export the meter abroad after fulfilling our country’s demand in the future. Our mission is to ensure quality product at an affordable price,” he added.
Shafique Uddin said “We are getting many benefits as a result of setting up our own meter factory. The main advantage is that I can use modern technology here. The Chinese company we are working with has a strong research and development team. As they are doing business worldwide, we are getting the latest technology of the world. Secondly, after-sales service was not available on imported meters. Now we can repair the meter easily. Besides, the price is also affordable and it also saves foreign currency.”
“We have also plans to produce other electrical equipment like isolator, circuit breaker etc in this factory. We are currently using the smart prepaid meters, which we are producing by ourselves,” he said.
The prepaid metering system has been introduced nationwide aimed at ensuring convenience of the consumers and also easing bill payment system with hundred percent bill collection and electricity savings.
It is also aimed at protecting against system loss, corruption and overloading of the electricity to facilitate loading management with load control. It will help reduce system loss, pilferage, overbilling in power consumption as well facilitating services to subscribers.
Currently the electricity users in the country is around 3 crores 85 lakh, which is increasing day by day. Around 11.50 lakh pre-paid meters have been installed. The government’s plan is to connect all the electricity users of the country to this service gradually.
WZPDCL has already installed around 2.5 lakh smart prepayment meters with 5 lakh more going to be set up by 2021. All our users (around 13 lakh) will get this facility in its distribution area by 2023 to make the monthly electricity bill payment hassle-free.
Headquartered in the southern city of Khulna, currently, WZPDCL is responsible for distribution of electricity in 21 districts of Khulna and Barisal divisions and Greater Faridpur districts and another 20 upazillas excluding Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board’s (BREB) area.