Pvt power plant won’t get gas unless paid dues

Zarif Mahmud: The energy department has decided to disconnect the gas connection of the IPP (Independent Power Plant) power plant once again if the bill is not paid. This decision was taken recently in a meeting of the Energy Department. However, no gas connection of any power plant has been reported so far.
Energy department sources say that they are importing LNG from abroad. Again, they are buying gas from foreign companies within the country and supplying it to public and private power plants.
But due to non-payment of regular bills, just as Petrobangla is not able to pay the price of LNG, similarly the bills of multinational oil and gas companies are also not able to be paid. For this, a committee was formed earlier to collect the bill from the energy department to the power plants of IPP and Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB). That committee could not show any major progress in collecting the bill despite several rounds of meetings.
In the report given by the committee in the meeting held in the energy department, it could not show any success in collecting the bills from the private power plants. After that, in the meeting of the Energy Department, the IPP power plants were ordered to give letters within a certain time frame. After that, any power plant has been ordered to disconnect their lines if they do not pay the bill.
When asked, an official of Titus Gas Distribution Company said, how difficult is the line like this. A power plant line cut can become a major issue. So, we don’t think Titus or any other gas distribution company can do it. Besides, if it is to be done, there may be a shortfall in electricity production again.
Sources say that PDB has been facing problems in paying electricity bills for a year. Since PDB is not paying bills to private power producers on time, they (private companies) are also not able to pay gas bills. It has created complications.
There are a total of 27 private gas-based power plants with a capacity of 3,334 MW in the country now operating. Of these, 11 IP power plants with a capacity of 2,597 MW use gas. There are four small IPP (SIPD) power plants totaling 99 MW. Besides, three quick rental 226 MW and two rental power plants generate a total of 412 MW using gas.
Most of the plants have been generating round-the-clock power due to regular supply of gas. These companies have a demand of at least 166 million cubic feet of gas per day.