Anisul Islam Noor :
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will begin a seven-day public hearing from today (Monday) on electricity tariff hike as per the proposals submitted by six state-owned electricity distribution entities.
According to the PDB proposal, it is necessary to raise power tariff to Tk 5.59 from Tk 4.87 during the current fiscal year to make up the gap in the wake of loss.
The hearing will be held at the TCB Bhaban’s auditorium in the city’s Karwan Bazar.
The distribution companies of power sector have already submitted their revised proposals to BERC for electricity price hike. The public hearings will start from today and a final decision will be taken afterwards, BERC Secretary Md Mahbubur Rahman told reporters on Sunday.
The power sector companies have incurred a huge loss for purchasing electricity from costly rental and quick rental power plants, sources said.
“The gas price, which has been hiked twice this year, has inspired to hold public hearing for electricity price hike. The new price may come into effect from November this year,” BERC sources said.
On February 20, the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) sent a proposal to Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission to raise the power tariff at bulk level by Tk 0.72 per unit.
On March 7, BPDB also sent a proposal to the regulatory commission asking for steps to increase the retail price of electricity by Tk 0.21 per unit (kilowatt-hour).
The proposal states that it is necessary to increase the retail power tariff to Tk 6.95 from Tk 6.73 per unit.
The state-owned company has also proposed to raise the demand and service charges in accordance with the consumer categories.
Besides, Rural Electrification Board of Bangladesh sought an 11 per cent hike in retail tariff, West-Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd 10.36 pc, Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) 6.24 pc, North West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd 16 pc, and Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco) 6.34 per cent respectively.
Professor Samsul Alam, Energy Adviser of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh said, there is no need to increase the price, rather, I think the power price should be reduced.
Besides, the hearings on PDB retail proposals will be held on September 26, REB on September 27, DPDC on September 28, DESCO on October 2, West Zone Power Company on October 3 and North-West Zone Power Distribution Company on October 4.
