Electricity use alone cannot identify the ultra-poor, Rizvi says at Dhaka public dialogue

BNP acting secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said it is difficult to determine the real picture of ultra-poor people from electricity users' data. He made the comment on Wednesday, 28 October, at a public dialogue organised by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium in the capital.

The dialogue was organised on the survey results and implementation process concerning rooftop solar potential in Rajshahi City Corporation and Shailkupa Municipality, and lifeline electricity customers. Rizvi said electricity has still not reached many areas of the country, and where there is electricity, poor families in some places share it with others. So the ultra-poor cannot be identified on the basis of electricity-use data alone, he said.

Rizvi said life is extremely difficult in remote areas such as the char areas of the Dharla and Brahmaputra in Kurigram. Although cent percent electrification across the country is spoken of, in reality people in many areas are still deprived of electricity benefits. So their socioeconomic condition cannot be pictured correctly from the amount of electricity use alone.

He said many poor families in the capital's slum areas also have to share electricity. A rickshaw-puller father and a mother who works in homes struggle to educate their children. When one child finishes studying at night, another sits down to study in the same light. In some places people still have to spend the night by hurricane lamp, he said.

Rizvi said if identification of the ultra-poor relies only on electricity-use data, the real picture will not emerge. But CAB's research can play an important role in understanding poor people's lives, he said.

Presenting the keynote at the dialogue, CAB energy adviser Professor M Shamsul Alam said electricity-use data can play an effective role in preparing and updating lists of poor families. Families using up to 50 units of electricity a month could be given priority for preliminary inquiry. That could save time and money in identifying poor families, he said.

Professor Shamsul Alam also said low electricity use alone should not be considered final proof of poverty. Household size, income, livelihood and special needs must also be checked, he said.

CAB's survey analysed information from 556 lifeline customer families in Rajshahi City Corporation and Shailkupa Municipality. In it, 69 percent of families said the pressure of electricity bills had increased compared with income. Although 96 percent of families considered the lifeline policy effective, 40 percent described the support received under the system as negligible.

At the dialogue, Professor Shamsul Alam proposed a six-month pilot project using existing electricity billing data to identify poor families. In the project, the accuracy of the method and the possibility of cost saving could be tested by matching electricity-use data with families' socioeconomic condition, he said.

Highlighting the potential of rooftop solar and renewable energy, Rizvi said such initiatives can play a role in tackling the country's energy crisis and creating new employment. There is an arrangement to pay the price if someone supplies surplus electricity to the national grid after meeting their own needs. If such initiatives are expanded, new possibilities will be created in the power sector, he said.

He said the global situation has an impact behind the fuel and power crisis. War and disruption in the international supply system are creating uncertainty in fuel imports. But importance must be given to building alternative fuel sources to tackle these crises. Referring to past irregularities in the power sector, he said looting took place in the past in the name of setting up rental and quick rental power plants. Transparency and accountability must be ensured in implementing future projects by learning from those experiences, he said.

Rizvi said there should be no scope for irregularities in any sector. The media will highlight the good and bad of the sector concerned and will criticise. The government and the departments concerned must answer to the people on these matters. To establish a truly democratic society, accountability must be ensured in every sector, he said.

He also said an eight-member delegation of an Australia-based company has recently come to Bangladesh and is talking about investing here. Saying he had read it in a newspaper the previous day, he said the commissioner of Asia Trade Investment Company and related persons have come, are working on major potential in this sector and say they will invest to use that potential. Energy security also received importance in the Prime Minister's meeting with Japan the previous day, and energy security was one of the most important items on the agenda in the one trillion yen agreements, he noted.

At the dialogue, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon general secretary Alamgir Kabir said college and university students who went house to house for the research had the opportunity to learn directly about the lives of people of various classes and professions. Such field-level experience helps young people understand social reality. Students need to be involved more in such work in future, he said.

RisingBD editor Kajol Rashil Shahin said CAB's research has brought out an important picture of the country's development and changes in people's lives. The media's role is important in taking the research results to more people. Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal central vice-president Dr Touhidur Rahman Awal emphasised the use of renewable energy. Sharing his experience of electric vehicle use in China, he said effective initiatives are also needed in Bangladesh to increase the use of environmentally friendly technology.

Journalist and writer Anis Raihan said poverty assessment cannot consider only per capita income or gross domestic product. What kind of fuel people use, what health risks they face from cooking smoke and what their real living condition is must also be considered. Discussants said that alongside rooftop solar production, proper use and distribution of the electricity produced must be ensured. If solar use is expanded at village level, local repair centres will be created and new employment opportunities will arise, they said.

Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET) Vice-Chancellor Professor SM Abdur Razzak was present at the dialogue as special guest. CAB research coordinator Engineer Shubh Kabiria gave the welcome speech. CAB general secretary Advocate Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan chaired the meeting. Journalists, researchers, students and representatives of various classes and professions concerned were also present.