Program Successes: Energy

Program Achievements as of November 2008:

• 70 rural electric cooperatives established;
  
• 213,470 kilometers of electrical line installed;
  
• 7.26 million metered connections established, providing service to more than 43 million people;
  
• Over 47,000 villages have electric service;
  
• Almost $300 million billed and collected annually from consumers;
  
• Over $1.5 billion invested in rural electrification, including funds from other donors and the Government of Bangladesh;
  
• System loss for the rural electrification program remains around 14%, compared to 15-20% for the national utility;
  
• The rural electrification program's billing and collection ratio of 98 % is far higher than that of other utilities;
  
• 30,000 jobs created in the rural electric cooperatives;
  
• Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) was established in 2004 and adopted a number of internal and technical regulations;
  
• BERC issued about 80 licenses as of September 2008 for captive and small power generations;
  
• BERC issued its first tariff order on bulk electricity rate increase on September 29, 2008 following open public hearing — a paradigm shift from the administered pricing mechanism that has been in practice in the past; and
  
• Between 2005 and 2008, 20 Grameen Technology Centers established under a grant to Grameen Shakti that trained more than 1,000 women technicians, 10,000 students and 5,000 women consumers.