Anisul Islam Noor :
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is to preparing a proposal for raising electricity price in retail level by 20 percent.
After submitting bulk power tariff hike proposal to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), BPDB works first to finalize its proposal to increase retail price, senior BPDB official told the reporter on Saturday.
He said, the Power Distribution entities will submit their proposal to BPDB for adjusting the retail prices with the bulk price hike, and then BPDB would place it to BERC. The distribution entities submitted proposals for raising the retail power tariffs in 2016. However, the regulatory commission has not taken the proposal into cognizance so far, a BERC official said.
BPDB will submit a fresh proposal to raise 20 percent retail electricity price as the power distribution and transmission charges have gone up, BPDB sources said.
The State-run Power Development Board has submitted a proposal to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission to raise the bulk price of electricity by 15 per cent, up to Tk 5.59 from Tk 4.87 per kilowatt.
The Commission received the proposal on February 23, when it raised the prices of natural gas by 22.7 per cent on an average, officials said.
The Power Board proposed the hike in bulk price of electricity with effect from April 1 to reduce its deficit of Tk 3,500 crore annually, said the officials.
The gas price hike by the Commission sparked widespread protests across the country as the hike was illogical.
Rural Electrification Board Chairman Major General Moin Uddin said that the distribution entities submitted a proposal about six months ago to the Commission for raising the retail power price to minimize losses. The proposal is still pending with the Commission, he added.
He also said that the board, if asked, would place a fresh proposal considering the Power Board’s proposed hike in bulk price of electricity.
BPDB official said that the Board spent Tk 5.59 per unit for generation and purchase from other utilities in public and private sectors while it sold the power to the Power distribution utilities at Tk 4.87 per unit, set by the Commission with effect from September 1, 2015.
The Energy Commission raised the price of bulk electricity by 3.62 per cent, up from Tk 4.70 per unit to Tk 4.87 per unit, with effect from September 1, 2015.
