Notification issued setting fees for the inspection and testing of electrical installations

Bangla Press Desk: The government has amended the Electricity Rules, 2020, by establishing fees for the inspection, testing, and renewal of approvals for electrical installations and equipment.

Under the newly prescribed fee structure, fees for the inspection and testing of electrical installations for consumers with a capacity of 50 kilowatts (kW) or higher—ranging based on the capacity of the substation—have been set between 20,000 BDT and a maximum of 3 million BDT.

Additionally, fees have been set for the inspection and testing of lifts, energy meters, transformer oil testing facilities, and manufacturers of electrical substation equipment.

The Power Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources issued a notification to this effect on October 15. It was subsequently published in an extra issue of the Bangladesh Gazette on October 17.

This amendment replaces Schedule-1 of the Electricity Rules, 2020, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 59 of the Electricity Act, 2018. The notification comes into immediate effect.

According to the new schedule, the fee for the inspection and testing of an electrical installation with a 100 kVA substation capacity is 20,000 BDT, with a renewal fee of 10,000 BDT. For a 200 kVA substation, these fees are 25,000 BDT and 12,500 BDT, respectively. For a 500 kVA substation, the inspection fee is set at 40,000 BDT, and the renewal fee at 20,000 BDT.

Furthermore, for a substation with a capacity of one megavolt-ampere (MVA), the inspection and testing fee is 60,000 BDT, with a renewal fee of 30,000 BDT. For a 5 MVA substation, these fees are 100,000 BDT and 50,000 BDT, respectively. For a 10 MVA substation, the inspection fee is 140,000 BDT, and the renewal fee is 70,000 BDT.

Fees are higher for higher-capacity substations; for a 20 MVA substation, the inspection and testing fee is 200,000 BDT, and the renewal fee is 100,000 BDT. For a 50 MVA substation, these two fees are 400,000 BDT and 200,000 BDT, respectively. For a 100 MVA substation, the inspection fee is 700,000 BDT, and the renewal fee is 350,000 BDT.

For a substation with a capacity of 500 MVA—the highest category listed—the inspection and testing fee has been set at 3,000,000 BDT, with an approval renewal fee of 1,500,000 BDT.

The notification sets the fee for linkage testing within an electrical system at 2,000 BDT. For the approval of a safety plan—including the internal electrical wiring diagram of a building—the fee is 5,000 BDT for installations with a power consumption of less than 50 kW, and 10,000 BDT for those with a consumption of 50 kW or more.

For the approval of manufacturers of electrical substation equipment, the inspection and testing fee for equipment rated up to 11,000 volts is 50,000 BDT, with a renewal fee of 25,000 BDT. For equipment rated at 33,000 volts or higher, these fees are 75,000 BDT and 37,500 BDT, respectively.

For entities that test transformer oil, the inspection and testing fee is 20,000 BDT, and the approval renewal fee is 12,500 BDT.

For energy meter testing, the fees are 2,000 BDT for a single-phase meter, 5,000 BDT for a three-phase meter, and 10,000 BDT for a main meter or HT (high-tension) meter. The fee for earthing tests for electric lifts is 500 BDT per electrode.

For the inspection and testing of passenger, capsule, and bed lifts, the fee is 6,000 BDT, with a renewal fee of 3,000 BDT. For cargo, goods, vehicle, fire-fighting, and service lifts, the inspection and testing fee is 10,000 BDT, and the renewal fee is 5,000 BDT. The notification states that if a specific category of fee is not mentioned in the schedule, the concerned inspecting officer shall determine the inspection fee on a pro-rata basis, derived from the fees applicable to the immediately preceding and succeeding categories of a similar nature.

The prescribed fee must be deposited as non-tax revenue into the government’s designated code, either via a treasury challan or through the online ‘e-Challan’ system. The occupant of the building or premises where electricity is—or will be—generated, received, or consumed is responsible for paying the applicable fee. Following the payment, an application must be submitted online to the Office of the Chief Electrical Inspector, accompanied by the original copy of the payment challan.

Furthermore, the notification specifies that the ‘Order for Inspection and Testing of Electrical Installations or Equipment and Issuance of Electrical Licenses, 2014’—issued by the Power Division on May 21, 2014—has been repealed.

BP/SP