Staff Reporter :
The Power Development Board (PDB) has proposed to Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to raise electricity tariff at bulk level by 18.12 per cent for minimising its loss.
If the proposal is approved, the price of electricity will go up by Tk 5.51 per unit from the existing Tk4.70 at bulk level- Tk0. 81 rise per unit. The production cost of each unit of power is around Tk6.54 – the PDB is losing Tk1.84 per unit at present.
The PDB has also urged the BERC to make the proposed rates effective from January 1 next year.
The PDB proposal said after the proposed power prices at the bulk level comes into effect, the prices at the retail level will also be increased, otherwise the power distribution companies will suffer loss.
Retail power tariff was raised in last March and if the new proposal is accepted, it will be the first increase in both the bulk and retail level power tariffs for present government’s.
PDB official said the government will have to provide the power sector with subsidies amounting to nearly Tk7,500 crore in this fiscal if the new tariff is not implemented. If the proposal is accepted, the amount of subsidy will fall to Tk4, 000 crore, he said.
The PDB purchases power from rental and IPP power plants, Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh Ltd and Ashuganj Power Station Company Ltd.
It then sells to bulk consumers Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd, Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd, Rural Electrification Board – and also to retail consumers in its own distribution regions at the price fixed by the BERC.
On march 14 this year, the BERC increased retail power tariff by 6.96% per unit on an average, with the price rising from Tk5.75 to Tk6.15.
