Gas meter
Iftikharul Karim, On e-mail
The universal practice is to pay for what you consume no more no less - whether it is electricity, water or gas. This is why meters are installed to accurately record what you are consuming so that a consumer is billed accordingly. The other reason why the providers and the consumers of the utilities prefer meters is to cut back on wastage that would otherwise take place when these essential utilities are made available on prefixed rates of un-metered consumption. Titas Gas supplies natural gas to domestic and industrial consumers at (understandably) differentiated rates. The vast majority of domestic users are without meters and are charged on the basis of the number of burners leading to colossal wastage of gas when kitchen burners are lit and left burning throughout the day and night, not to mention pilferage through unauthorised subsidiary run-off. It would therefore appear logical that Titas Gas would encourage installing meters for domestic users so that both consumers and providers would be benefited. In Bangladesh, however, that is not the case, at least not for consumers of domestic gas. Suppose, after a year of sustained effort you persuade Titas Gas to install a gas meter for your domestic connection. Imagine then the surprise when you find that Titas Gas continues to bill you at a fixed rate, irrespective of the consumption recorded by the meter installed by them. What is their explanation for this? The answer - "Why did you want a meter installed?" The govt. does not allow for billing by meter for domestic consumers." So, I want to put it to the concerned Adviser "Will you allow this gross anomaly to persist and for how long?" If electricity and water consumers have metered connections then why not gas also? Please direct Titas Gas to start installing meters for domestic users and fix an equitable charge for domestic gas consumers. You may be surprised by the positive response of the consumers and the savings in gas consumption.
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