Bangladesh is going to experience a new technical revolution where factories are beingestablishedin Bangladesh, technical excellence will meet the transforming Bangladeshi youth and make a new era of development. The first State-owned prepaid meter manufacturing factory ‘Bangladesh Smart Electrical Company Limited’ has been established in the Khulna city of Bangladesh, known as a hub of industries.This factory is a joint venture initiative of West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited and internationally provenenergymeter manufacturer and smarttechnical solution provider Hexing Electrical Company Ltd.
Prepaid metering project is the project under‘Hundred percent electricity for all citizens’ by the Government of Bangladesh. The convenience of usingprepaid metersfor the consumers isthat the consumer can monitor their own electricity usage. It prevents the waste of electricity by optimum using. The suffering of paying electricity bills standing in the long queue has been eliminated by the purchase of electricity through various vending stations, electricity meter from recharge points, recharge by mobile and apps.With the efficient use of electricity at the consumer level, an increase in economic growth can be achieved at the national level.
It is a significant success of government and power distribution utilities to implement prepaid meters by replacing of traditional postpaid meters which reduced significant amount of system loss which was in previous. Now Prepaid meters are usually procured by tender under different project from the companies of different countries. Meters from a local factory of Bangladesh will make the foreign companies emphasize more on the quality product by increasing the level of competition. A factory in Bangladesh will reduce the time for inspection, import, delivery which will save a lot of time and valuable project timeline. This will help to complete projects successfully in time.
The contract signed for the joint venture factory Bangladesh Smart Electrical Company Ltd. on 21st October2018. Cabinet approved the formation of the factory on 17th September2018. The factory is State-Owned as the ratio of the owner is 51:49. 51 percent share belongs to State-owned Power Distribution Company- West Zone Power Distribution Limited. 49 percent share belongs to Hexing Electrical Company, a Chinese origin multinational company having footprints in more than 90 countries all over the world for their high quality product and innovative technology. Hexing has the experience of establishing and operating six factories successfully in different countries all over the world.
Authorized Capital for this project is BDT 500 million. Paid up capital is BDT 286 Million. The net capacity of manufacturing meter is 0.5 million smart prepayment meter per year initially considering a single shift.For the development of Bangladesh, factories play an important role. Factory in Bangladesh will improve the infrastructure and strengthen the national economy.
The Factory has remarkable progress in the mean-time. Capital Machinery for the factory like-Production line, Assembly line, High voltage test bench, Inspection and repair station, Ultrasonic soldering machine, Servers,Lifting platform, Test bench and all other capital machinery has been installed and commissioned in the factory. At the end of this month, the production will start for fulfilling the demand of power distribution utilities of Bangladesh. One expert from the factory shared us that the product produced by the factory will be a state-of-art.
The new factory in Khulna is an opportunity for jobs to the locals of Khulna and adjacent districts. Around 200 local people will be employed for the factory. University students in KUET and other universities are also eagerly waiting for the company to start its operation-said our team visiting the factory site. Bangladeshi people will be given training and eventually, they will know the technical know-how of the factory.
This factory in Khulna will facilitate in supplying prepaid meters to the Open market also when the government will permit selling meters to open market. Consumers can get the meters at reasonable price with the quality assurance. The products will be made in Bangladesh with proper safety measures in the factory. After sales service will be provided with teams of the factory in different zones.
Engr. Md. Shafique Uddin, Managing Director, Bangladesh Smart Electrical Company says, “We are hopeful that the Meter manufacturing and technical solution and system service provider company will meet the expectation of the consumers of Bangladesh. Our mission is to ensure quality product at an affordable price. We shall be working with other Distribution utilities of Bangladesh regarding the individual requirement to make sure every consumer get the best service at their doorstep.”
For materializing the vision of Digital Bangladesh, Bangladesh Smart Electrical Company Limited has started its journey as the first State-Owned Smart Prepayment meter manufacturing Company in Bangladesh. This company is dedicated to serving the Utilities not only with high quality smart prepaid meters but also with a variety of high-performance electrical products, solutions for Micro-Grids and Distributed Generation, Distribution Automation, Revenue collection, and other operations and services such as Network Planning & Design, Operation & maintenance services, Consultancy, Hosting, and Vending Operation etc.
This newly formed company has the potential to do every work that an internal standard foreign company can do. This company is going to start the production from next month for the smart devices with a hope of a being a successful venture of Bangladesh as well as this company is being viewed as the pathway to introduce new technologies in the country.
About West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited
West Zone Power Distribution Co. Ltd.(WZPDCL) widely known as Ozopadicois an electricity distribution company constituted in November 2002 under the Companies Act, 1994 as a Public Limited Company.
About Hexing Electrical Company Limited
Hexing Electrical Co. Ltd. headquarters located in Hangzhou, China established in 1992, is a multi-national company offering variety of electrical equipment and relevant solution to global power utilities.With more than two decades of industrial experiences, Hexing is constantly developing a customized sustainable ecosystem for energy distribution companies including to micro-grid with renewable energy, distribution automation and smart meter to cash collection resulting in effective revenue protection and beyond.
