Effective steps taken to save DPDC’s huge amount of money

Staff Correspondent

The drives of DPDC’s special task force at the customers’ doorsteps that tremendously have helped to prevent electricity theft and by preserving evidence and capturing pictures of electricity-related irregularities that also have facilitated the recovery of Govt. revenue.

In this case, the proper implementation of the law has been ensured. Over the past few years, many drives have been conducted which has unearthed a large number of power theft cases and recovered a large number of stolen energy units, which continue to contribute significantly to government revenue.

As a result, where power theft was rampant in some NOCS offices, that has gradually stopped and simultaneously made a positive impact on system losses. As a result, customer awareness has increased more than ever before, the trend of electricity theft among customers in the respective areas has decreased, customers are self-motivated and providing information to the task force team, and at the same time, customers have been alerted about the NOCS office centric illegal brokers or meter readers involved in the said irregularities.

Constant monitoring of various types of meters and visits to customer premises enhanced the technical and public relations skills of the Special Task Force Team. There are many types of subtle tampering and bypassing of meters, which are difficult to detect easily – such subtle irregularities/thefts are being detected by the Special Task Force Team with their talent and expertise. A lot of illegal meters have also been seized which has never happened before. Overall, these initiatives are playing a special role in reducing the overall system loss.

Task force personnel have taken swift action against illegal connections in those installations where NOCS offices must deal with the relatively troublesome issue of power theft. As a result, the trust and reliability of NOCS offices on the Special Task Force has increased. On the other hand, it has been recommended to remove 68 workers employed by the contractor through outsourcing under customer support service and recommended to higher authority to take action against 12 employees of DPDC for the crime of directly helping customers to steal electricity. To stop the illigal activities of NOCS centric brokers, written complaints have been lodged with the police station through the NOCS office against many such brokers and they have been banned from entering the concerned electricity offices.

Meter observation, technical analysis, providing logical data and presentation during the hearing of power theft cases uncovered by the Special Task Force at BERC has enhanced the reputation and acceptability of the Special Task Force to BERC. As a result, BERC can rely on the information provided by the Special Task Force in solving cases related to power theft.

In the last 3 years, about 48 lakh energy units of electricity theft have been uncovered against which about Tk 15 crore has been recovered. This is a record in the history of DPDC. Apart from this, so far around 2500 meters have been inspected and action has been taken against irregularities and cases have also been filed against 35 customers for theft of electricity which is currently ongoing.

Apart from this, the Special Task Force Team will regularly conduct operations to warn the customers of the concerned establishment and other establishments in its vicinity about electricity theft, illigal brokers and corrupt CSS employees, besides, Special Task Force team continiously encouraged the customers to solve any electricity related problems and motivated them to get servics directly to the concerned NOCS office through hotline, website and direct contact. It is to be noted that, the Special Task Force team has gained the trust of customers and related authorities as an acceptable and trustworthy team by ensuring professional skills, effective measures and transparent working methods to prevent electricity irregularities.

Under the overall supervision of the company secretary, effective steps have also been taken to save a huge amount of money and collect revenue by solving the complications related to the construction of substations and the purchase of transformers. As a result of taking appropriate legal action, it has been possible to recover about 8 crore taka including dues and penal bills. Also, because of taking action regarding meter tampering, it has been possible to collect a penalty bill of around 24 lakhs taka. About 9 crore taka have been saved through the judgment of Review Petition 546/2016 arising in continuation of Writ Petition No. 5116/2010 regarding payment of compensation for the construction of Kamrangirchar 132/33/11/KV sub-centre. On the other hand, a huge amount of electricity bill has been reconciled during the Corona period and success has come as a result of taking steps responsibly on issues of public importance, such as removing obstacles in the collection of long-standing outstanding electricity bills of Bihari Camp in Mohammadpur. Also, due to regular updating of all case information of DPDC through Case Management and Monitoring Software (CMMS), now case related issues are more organized.

A cell called “Defunct DESA” was functioning for a long time where quite a large number of employees of the DESA period had to face frequent problems regarding salary, pension etc. and legal complications regarding their assimilation. No one has taken effective steps to resolve such complications. The present Company Secretary, utilizing his foresight and experience, prepared a detailed report with recommendations and sent it to the Ministry, accordingly, the Ministry issued instructions to dissolve the defunct Desa Cell at once. At the same time, in continuation of the Writ Petition No. 5915/2016, civil petition for leave to appeal No. 1499/2011, 1195/14, 1500/11 and 1507-1509/11 was dismissed in favor of DPDC. By this, the long-standing complexities have been resolved and corporate good governance established.

Drastic changes have been made in the medical system of DPDC officers and employees. For the first time DPDC has signed an agreement with 5 reputed hospitals of Dhaka (Lab Aid, Bangladesh Specialized Hospital, United Hospital, Evercare and Asghar Ali) to ensure good medical treatment for the officers and employees. which has never happened before. For the first time in DPDC, the dashboard has been upgraded with a medical management system. Through this, the medical information of all the officers and employees is preserved, through which the disease history of the officers and employees, the pattern of the disease is being known, and the right treatment is being ensured at the right time which was never before. Blood screening of all employees was done with the help of ICDDR which was the first in DPDC.

The doctors of DPDC have been providing medical services to the officers and employees by going to different NOCS offices every month, giving the highest importance to the health of the officers and employees. Along with this, regular awareness campaigns have also been conducted. These initiatives have never been taken before. As a result, the health of the officers and employees has improved, they have become more health conscious and more aware of disease prevention. Eventually, an active and healthy work force has been created who continue to contribute to the DPDC. All government hospitals in Dhaka city have covid contracts. As a result, Covid tests have been arranged on a priority basis. Health protection of DPDC officers and employees was a big challenge during Corona. Because there was no alternative to ensure uninterrupted electricity to keep the officials and employees healthy. Therefore, during the lockdown, health risks have been taken with the doctors to ensure the provision of vaccines along with all types of protection. In addition, arrangements have been made to compensate the victims and victims of Corona with great responsibility. Even arrangements have been made to make RTPCR test free for corona patients.

Also, for the first time in DPDC, Hepatitis-B vaccine program has been conducted with the help of ICDDR,B for the first time to ensure the good health of all. For the first time, a seminar on diabetes and heart disease has been organized to increase the health awareness of DPDC officials and employees.

The Public Relations Office has been efficiently utilized in undertaking various innovative promotional activities with success including saving energy, informing customer services, raising awareness on safe use of electricity. As a result, customers have now become more aware of using electricity and receiving services.

The proper implementation of these initiatives would not have been possible without the proper guidance and supervision of the Chairman of DPDC and the encouragement and enthusiastic cooperation of the Managing Director.

Asking about these initiatives, Mr. Md. Asaduzzaman, Company Secretary, said that DPDC is a service-oriented company. As a Govt. employee, he just tried to do his duties to serve the people, he added.