No fine for delayed gas, electricity bill payment over corona

The government has decided not to impose any fine on the delayed residential gas bill payment for February-May and electricity bill payment for February-April, amid the fears of coronavirus spread.

The Energy Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources came up with the decisions on Sunday to ease the people to fight the impact of coronavirus.

"Presence of a lot of people at the bank for paying the gas bill creates a risk of coronavirus spread. So the government decided to relax the deadline of gas bill payment for the residential users," said a circular issued by the ministry.

Residential users will be able to pay the due gas bills without any additional fines in June.

As per the Gas Distribution Policy 2014, the fine for unpaid gas bill starts from Tk10 for each month if the bill is paid within the next six months. The fine goes up to Tk20 each month if the bill remains unpaid for more than six months.

Meanwhile, the Power Division of the Ministry issued another circular regarding the delayed payment of electricity bills.

"Subscribers usually pay electricity bills in different banks or via mobile banking services. As most of the users are not going outdoors without emergency needs, they may not be able to pay electricity bills on time," the circular reads.

"In this situation, we are instructing the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to allow the subscribers to pay their due electricity bills without any additional delay fine," the circular further states.

Bangladesh reported first death from coronavirus on March 18 and second death on March 21. The number of infected patients stood at 27 as of today.