Coming to the cost breakdowns, price per unit of gas would be more than Tk 15 per unit after the first quarter of 2018, given the present hike in taxes. Additionally, several other taxes on imported gas, e.g. 10 percent import duty, 15 percent VAT, and 3 percent advance income tax (AIT) would push up the price further. This would make the price unbearable for consumers – not that the fact is not known or not being discussed but the fact is that the current gas price will have to be regulated in accordance with the peoples’ purchase power parity.
The government’s concerned authorities must realise that 22.7 percent increase in last February following an added cost of 50 percent more for stoves will have an additional 60 percent extra cost in the consumers’ bills. In a litany of cascade effects of every phase of gas price hike, people have been forced to pay high in transport fares and commodity prices.
The point is simple, the price of gas or any other public utility cannot increase so quickly to take the people financially hostage. The Awami League-led government in its two successive tenures since 2009 has so far raised the prices of natural gas by upto 221 percent without ensuring uninterrupted supplies to the consumers.
We also have to follow what’s happening in other countries, neighbouring India has taken an initiative to promote the use of energy efficient appliances while China has adopted a policy in its budgetary framework to provide subsidy to use energy efficient products. But Bangladesh is still studying different mechanisms to set its own strategy to promote energy efficiency. We fear with increased hikes it may not be possible.
