Only about 30 per cent of the total number of eligible applicants have been provided new power connections since 7 November, 2010, said an official of the Power Division.
He said that five power distribution agencies had provided 2,28,883 new connections from November, 2010 to June 20 this year, though 7,67,875 applicants had already paid all the charges for installation of power lines.
After suspending new power connections from April to October 2010, the government decided to give power lines to consumers on condition that they install solar panels.
The authorities asked new domestic consumers, who want power lines with capacity of more than two kilowatts, to obtain three to five per cent of their electricity requirement from solar panels.
Last month the government decided to provide new connections in phases until December to applicants who had paid all the installation charges by June.
The Dhaka Power Distribution Company's managing director, Mohammad Abdus Sobhan, said that power distribution agencies would be able to hit the government's target of providing new power connections.
When he was asked about the reason for the slow rate of providing new power connections, he said that his company was ready to provide new lines but the consumers were delaying the setting up of solar panels.
The officials of the four other power distribution agencies gave the same excuse.
According to a report of the Power Division, only 2,844 applicants out of about 2.30 lakh, who had been provided power connections, had set up solar panels with a total capacity of 0.45MW.
The report also said that the new consumers had increased the demand for power by 331MW.
An official of the Power Division said that the country's power generation was expected to rise by 1,000MW by December, matching the increased consumption after eight lakh new connections are given by year's end.
Source : New Age
