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Growth trend in rural electrification in Bangladesh

By Mahfuzur Rahman and Khandaker Mainuddin
Energy is consumed in the production of goods and services and other Useful works. It is therefore an indicator of the level of economic activities needed to satisfy human needs ^and wants.
Consumption of electricity, one of the most convenient forms of energy'for versatile uses, is widely acknowledged as an indicator of socio-economic development and technological efficiency.
The traditional rural society of Bangladesh comprising thousands of villages have long been deprived of electricity although the Importance of rural development has frequently been emphasised. With the emergence of Bangladesh as an Independent country., strong commitment to rural electrification has found expression in the development plans.
, Rural electrification, now is viewed as an important component of the overall rural infrastructure including the communication system. '
The launching of the rural electrification programme in Bangladesh dates back to the year 1980 following a comprehensive feasibility study. An important characteristic feature of the programme is people’s participation under' the principle of consumers' cooperative. The beneficiary consumers of a rural electric cooperative known as PBS (Palli Bidyut Samity) are themselves the owners of their PBS. The consumers exercise their rights in formulating the policies and plans of the PBS and bear responsibility of its operational sustainability. For each PBS a decentralised and autonomous power distribution system is built under area coverage rural electrification scheme.
Objectives of RE Programme
RE programme is aimed at achieving both general and specific objectives relating to socioeconomic development of the country. The general objectives are to stimulate rural economic activity, generate employment opportunities for the rural workforce and foster rural development.
The specific oblcctives of RE programme may be summarised as follows:
•Increased use of electritity for irrigation to boost agricultural, productivity; . -
• Increased use Of electricity for rural small and cottage industry creating employment opportunities:
• Increased use of electricity by the rural households for improved living standard: 1 '
* Increased use of electricity. by the various social and community Institutions for socio-cultural development; and
• Balanced development of the regions and reduction in disparity between rural and urban areas;
Progress of Rural Electrification
RE programme since its beginning has witnessed remarkable progress over the past one and a half decade. Area coverage programme has gradually been extended covering 68 per cent of the country’s rural area under the institutional framework of 53 PBSs.
By June 1994. 22 percent of the country’s villages were brought under the distribution network Of rural electrification. More than 60.000 km of distribution lines and auxiliary facilities have been built under the programme. The total number of beneficiary consumers stood at 930,601 as of June 1994.
A breakup of the consumers belonging to a different categories is as follows:With rapid expansion of the rural electrification network, new consumers connected to the system are also growing fast. Annual addition of new consumers now exceed 1.5 lakh compared to 0.5 lakh a decade ago.
Trend of Growth
To have a comprehensive view of growth in rural electrification. it Is important to look at the various components of the programme including project area coverage. Infrastructure building, hew connections, energy consumption and revenue generation.
While the overall growth of rural electrification is determined by all such components, the growth performance, to a great extent, is reflected through two pivotal areas: consumer connections and consumption. The constant annual grdwth rates of connections and energy consumption for different categories for the period 1986-87 through 1993-94 are as follows: The period of the initial stage of rural electrification has not been Included In computation of growth which Is likely to be inflated because of low base figures
In can be seen that the overall growth rates under the RE system are 19.73 per cent for consumers and 17.83 per cent for consumpUon of electricity Growth rate has been highest for irrigation consumers followed by domestic consumers There has been a 23.62 per cent constant growth of Irrlgatlonal consumers The growth rates of domestic. Industrial and commercial consumers are 20.27, 19.53 and 14.48 per cent respectively With regard to electricity consumption, the constant annual growth rates are 22.27 per