Industrial units and garments factories are seeking a waiver or the facility to pay the utility bills in long term-instalments as they failed to pay the bills due to shutdown of their establishment amid the COVID-19 crisis, a top official said.
“We have already received a series of requests from steel re-rolling mills, garments industries and other large industrial groups to waive their utility bills,” State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid said.
He said that the power and gas distribution companies are facing financial difficulty for poor collection of utility bills from industrial and other household units.
“We have no plan to waive the bills but we are considering allowing payment in instalments,” he said.
He added that the power ministry has requested to allocate more subsidy in the upcoming budget 2020-21 to minimize the pressure of loss in power generation and its import facilities.
The government has allocated Tk 95 billion as subsidy for the power sector in the current fiscal year.
