Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) on Wednesday recommended to hike the electricity tariff by 57.83 per cent.
Contrarily the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) claimed that the BERC’s recommendation of power price hike is totally illogical.
The BERC technical committee made the recommendation during a public hearing held at BIAM Foundation auditorium in the capital.
The PDB Chairman, Directors and its senior officials of different levels, and BERC Chairman and its Members were present, among others, in the public hearing.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) was proposed to increase the power tariff by 65.57 per cent in the public hearing.
But the BERC technical committee recommended to hike power price by 57.83 per cent.
The BERC technical committee recommended for hiking the wholesale power price by Tk 2.99 per unit while the PDB was proposed to increase it by Tk 3.39 per unit.
The current wholesale price of the PDB’s power is Tk 5.17 per unit, while the government gives subsidy of Tk 3.39 in this regard.
The PDB proposed to increase the price by Tk 8.56 per unit shunning the government subsidy and the BERC recommended the tariff hike by Tk 8.16.
Meanwhile, the CAB alleged that the BERC had made the recommendations to increase power tariff irrationally.
PDB claimed in its price hiking proposals that ‘they do not get adequate gas supply to produce electricity.’
As a result the electricity producing cost has been increased using oil as its fuel, PDB officials said.
On the other hand, CAB alleged that the PDB claimed high expenses in producing electricity using fuel oil and reducing its dependence on gas supply.
