Staff Reporter :
Prices of electricity and gas will be raised from next month as 15 percent VAT has been imposed on those most important utility services.
The government in the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year has imposed a 15 percent VAT on electricity and wants it to implement from July.
But the legal jurisdiction of raising the prices of gas and electricity lies with the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC). Experts questioned how and in what way the prices of such important utility services can be increased when BERC has the authority to do so.
According to Power Ministry officials, VAT is still 5 percent on electricity bill. If a customer has a bill of Tk one thousand, then the bill is charged by paying Tk 50 as VAT on that. That is, if a customer gets Tk 1000 electricity bill, then Tk150 will not be charged at 15 percent rate. The customer’s bill will be charged by adding 15 percent VAT to each unit used by him.
However, Power Ministry sources said VAT will be charged less than 15 percent for gas and electricity.
Power Division Secretary Ahmed Kaikasus said they have calculated that even after getting tax receipt for electricity, every unit will have to increase the price at around 8 percent.
Only the BERC could do this. They are communicating with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) about what can be done in this case, sources said.
Energy Division officials said 42 percent supplementary duty and 13 percent VAT is added to all the customers’ gas price. But in the new system, VAT has been imposed 15 percent. The decision on the remaining 2 percent would be reached soon.
