Power prices to go up from next month
Retail consumers to pay Tk 0.35 more per unit on average
STAFF REPORTER
The government has once again hiked the electricity pricethis time by 5.3 per cent on averagefor which retail consumers will have to pay an additional Tk. 0.35 per unit from December this year.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) took the decision yesterday. BERC chairman Monwar Islam went for the hike amid demands of a price increase placed by various state-owned companies.
The bulk tariff has also been increased for power distribution companies except for Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (REB) as per the government plan to supply cheaper power through the REB. The new tariff would come into effect from December, the BERC chairman said.
With the new power tariff, electricity prices will increase for poor customers. But the minimum bill (for using 50 units of electricity or less) that many paid till now would not be there for anymorethis will benefit about three million poor subscribers. Besides, for the seven lakh lifetime customers, the price of electricity will increase slightly, the BERC said.
On the other hand, electricity prices in the wholesale segment have not been hiked as the government has decided
to provide an annual subsidy of Tk. 3,600 crore.
Since the Awami League came to power, the price of electricity has gone up eight times from March 1, 2010.
Earlier, the BERC had organised a special public hearing on a proposal for power tariff reduction, tabled by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), to cut the bulk power price. Besides, there were a series of public hearings on the BERCs price hike proposals from September 25 to October 5.
Moreover, the CAB proposed a reduction in the bulk tariff price by Tk 1.32 per unit with various measures and implementation of an earlier BERC order to ensure the purchase of lowest-cost electricity by the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB).
The PDB had earlier proposed raising the power tariff by 15 per cent per unit at the bulk level.
Currently, the bulk tariff of per unit of electricity is Tk 4.90 and the PDB wants it re-fixed at Tk 5.99.
The previous hike came on September 1, 2015, when the price was raised by 2.93 per cent. The cost to those using up to 75 units of electricity increased by Tk. 20 after the price hike, while those using over 600 units saw an increase of at least Tk. 30. The Dhaka Power Distribution Company sent proposals to increase the price of electricity by 6.24 per cent at the user level, while the DESCO proposed 6.34 per cent, the West Zone Power Distribution Company 10.36 per cent, the REB 10.75 per cent, and the PDB 14.5 per cent.
In March this year, Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power and energy, said that electricity price should be hiked as the gas prices would also be hiked, which is being used for generating electricity.
Later, the regulatory commission took the proposals from various distribution companies into account and arranged a public hearing. After that, a 15 per cent increase in the price of wholesale power and a 614 per cent increase in the price of retail power were proposed.
Power price hike at a glance
Date Wholesale Subscriber
Mar 1, 2010 5pc
Feb 1, 2011 11pc 5pc
Aug 1, 2011 6.66pc
Dec 1, 2011 16.79pc 13.25pc
Feb 1, 2012 14.37pc 7.09pc
Sep 1, 2012 16.92pc 15pc
Feb 2014 6.96pc
(announced on March 13)
Sep 1, 2015 2.9pc
