The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have signed an agreement to conduct a study on gas consumption by unmetered residential consumers. Under the study, BUET will install 2,000 prepaid gas meters on a random basis to assess actual gas usage by residential customers.
The agreement was signed on Tuesday, 6 January, at the BERC conference room. The signing ceremony was attended by BERC Chairman Jalal Ahmed, Commission Members Md. Abdur Razzak, Md. Mizanur Rahman, Dr. Syeda Sultana Razia, and Brigadier General (Retd.) Mohammad Shahid Sarwar, along with senior officials from both BERC and BUET.
The findings of the BUET study are expected to play a decisive role in resolving the long-standing debate over gas consumption by unmetered residential users. At present, unmetered consumers pay a fixed monthly gas bill, while gas distribution companies claim that higher usage by these customers is increasing system losses.
Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited has applied to increase the assumed consumption level for unmetered customers—from 55 cubic meters (Tk 990) to 76.65 cubic meters (Tk 1,379) for single-burner users, and from 60 cubic meters (Tk 1,080) to 88.44 cubic meters (Tk 1,591) for double-burner users. Titas submitted this proposal to BERC in March 2023, after which the issue became a subject of prolonged debate. Even an internal BERC committee failed to reach a decision. Finally, at a joint meeting of BERC, Petrobangla, and Titas on 6 February, it was decided to conduct a third-party survey.
BERC last revised gas tariffs on 5 June 2022, following public hearings. At that time, data from prepaid meter users showed average monthly consumption of around 40 cubic meters for single-burner users and up to 50 cubic meters for double-burner users. Based on these figures, the assumed consumption levels were reduced from 73.41 cubic meters to 55 cubic meters for single-burner users and from 77.41 cubic meters to 60 cubic meters for double-burner users.
Bangladesh has approximately 4.4 million residential gas consumers, of whom about 500,000 use prepaid meters. Most statistics indicate that prepaid users consume less than 30 cubic meters per month on average. In addition, BERC commissioned a study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) in 2019 to examine gas usage among both prepaid and unmetered residential consumers across six gas distribution companies.
The BIDS survey, conducted among 1,054 residential consumers in 13 districts, found that prepaid single-burner users consumed 35.5 cubic meters, double-burner users 59.3 cubic meters, and prepaid users on average 57.9 cubic meters per month. Unmetered consumers, on the other hand, were found to consume an average of 56 cubic meters per month.
Titas Gas has consistently disagreed with these findings. Shahnawaz Parvez, Managing Director of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, stated that unmetered residential consumers use significantly more gas, with recorded cases of consumption reaching up to 100 cubic meters per month.
Responding to a question, he noted that there is a substantial difference between prepaid and unmetered users, as prepaid meter users tend to be more economical due to direct cost visibility, resulting in lower consumption.
Speaking to Energy & Power, BERC Chairman Jalal Ahmed said, “We expect the BUET study to resolve this issue. Customers will be selected randomly across different districts, and seasonal variations in gas usage will also be captured. We hope this will finally bring an end to the ongoing debate.”
