Power price likely to go up next year

The power price is likely to go up 2018 as the government has asked Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to take final decision as early as possible on the proposals of price hike by all distribution companies. The Power Division has also instructed the authorities concerned that some extra charges on the power consumers would be rational. The request was delivered at a high level- meeting headed by Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister, at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday. State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid, power secretary and BERC members were present at the meeting.  

Sources said despite huge opposition by the stakeholders, the government wants to hike electricity price in January, 2018 as Petrobangla will have to propose gas price hike after the importing of costly LNG (liquefied natural gas) that could increase the gas price by more than 30 per cent at consumer level.

“Yes, we have discussed all relevant issues, particularly the power price and we have assured the policymakers that things will be in shape after one or two weeks,” said a BERC member who attended the yesterday’s meeting.

However, the state minister said that nothing has yet been finalised.

“We just discussed the issues, nothing has been finalised to mention,” the state minister told The Independent after the meeting.

The commission took a month long public hearing for the power price hike that began on Sep 25, 2017. On the first day, the commission discussed openly the proposals of Bangladesh Power Development Board-BPDB. In February this year, the state organisation submitted a proposal to increase bulk power tariff by 14.78 per cent to Tk 5.59 a kilowatt-hour unit from the current rate of Tk 4.87. The BPDB argued that it has to face a tariff deficit of Tk 0.72 per kWh unit because of the gap between the bulk supply tariff and the weighted average bulk tariff. But consumer rights groups, industries and politicians opposed the move to hike bulk power tariff for distributors. Later, all the proposals of the distribution companies were discussed before the consumers’ representatives.

For the first time in the power price hearing procedure, the commission heard the proposals of consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) proposals to reduce the electricity prices.   

The yesterday’s meeting discussed that the next year will be the national election year for the country, and it should be kept in mind that the decisions remain rational to the people. For example, some distribution companies are taking ‘demand charge’, ‘service charge’, ‘meter Charge’ and some other charges which are unethical.

The government is also encouraging to give electricity access to the poor people living in the rural areas and those customers are treated as life line consumers. There are complaints that the life line consumers have to pay a minimum bill event if they don’t use electricity. The government instructed the authorities concerned to take necessary action in this regard.                  

The commission official said, as per the rule of the commission, they have time to take the decision on power price hike until the first week of January, 2018.

The government official said, “The power price will certainly increase despite all kinds of oppositions by the stakeholders.”

Power price likely to go up next year

The power price is likely to go up 2018 as the government has asked Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to take final decision as early as possible on the proposals of price hike by all distribution companies. The Power Division has also instructed the authorities concerned that some extra charges on the power consumers would be rational. The request was delivered at a high level- meeting headed by Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister, at the Prime Ministers Office yesterday. State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid, power secretary and BERC members were present at the meeting. Sources said despite huge opposition by the stakeholders, the government wants to hike electricity price in January, 2018 as Petrobangla will have to propose gas price hike after the importing of costly LNG (liquefied natural gas) that could increase the gas price by more than 30 per cent at consumer level. Yes, we have discussed all relevant issues, particularly the power price and we have assured the policymakers that things will be in shape after one or two weeks, said a BERC member who attended the yesterdays meeting. However, the state minister said that nothing has yet been finalised. We just discussed the issues, nothing has been finalised to mention, the state minister told The Independent after the meeting. The commission took a month long public hearing for the power price hike that began on Sep 25, 2017. On the first day, the commission discussed openly the proposals of Bangladesh Power Development Board-BPDB. In February this year, the state organisation submitted a proposal to increase bulk power tariff by 14.78 per cent to Tk 5.59 a kilowatt-hour unit from the current rate of Tk 4.87. The BPDB argued that it has to face a tariff deficit of Tk 0.72 per kWh unit because of the gap between the bulk supply tariff and the weighted average bulk tariff. But consumer rights groups, industries and politicians opposed the move to hike bulk power tariff for distributors. Later, all the proposals of the distribution companies were discussed before the consumers representatives. For the first time in the power price hearing procedure, the commission heard the proposals of consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) proposals to reduce the electricity prices. The yesterdays meeting discussed that the next year will be the national election year for the country, and it should be kept in mind that the decisions remain rational to the people. For example, some distribution companies are taking demand charge, service charge, meter Charge and some other charges which are unethical. The government is also encouraging to give electricity access to the poor people living in the rural areas and those customers are treated as life line consumers. There are complaints that the life line consumers have to pay a minimum bill event if they dont use electricity. The government instructed the authorities concerned to take necessary action in this regard. The commission official said, as per the rule of the commission, they have time to take the decision on power price hike until the first week of January, 2018. The government official said, The power price will certainly increase despite all kinds of oppositions by the stakeholders.