Kazi Zahidul Hasan :The distribution companies’ move of raising energy prices has given rise to concern about the misery of common people and adverse impact on different sectors of the national economy. Experts and industry leaders claimed that the wrong policies in energy sector have forced the government to go for hiking prices of power, gas and liquid fuels time and again. They demanded of the government to cancel the price hike decision immediately, considering its adverse impact on people, economy as well as society. Earlier, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) said that the new power and gas tariff would take effect from January next year inline with the proposals of power and gas distribution companies. “Gas and electricity tariff will reach an ‘eye-watering’ that is extreme high level if the latest hike proposal comes into effect,” Prof Shamsul Alam, an energy expert, told The New Nation on Saturday.He said electricity prices have already gone unaffordable level to the common man following its frequent price hike for the last few years. Now, another rise in gas and electricity bills will push millions of household consumers into further financial hardship.It will also leave negative impact on multiple sectors, including industry and transport, Prof. Alam added. According to the proposal of distribution companies, the monthly gas bill of a residential consumer will rise by over 100 per cent and electricity bill by 15.18 per cent.”I see no justification of power and gas price when crude oil prices declined substantially in the global market and the state-run Petrobangla is making Tk 3000 crore profit per year,” he noted. Prof Alam claimed that the government has enough room to cut gas and electricity tariffs by reducing system loss, power theft and enhancing efficiency of the distribution companies. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) had to incur a loss of Tk 6000 crore last fiscal year (2013-14) due to persistent gap between generation cost and selling prices of electricity at retail level, according to the Ministry of Finance. The loss of PDB would go up by Tk 7,200 crore in the current fiscal, it added. “The government is increasing energy prices in regular intervals only to veil the corruption and mismanagement of the distribution companies,” said Anu Mohammad, a professor of Economics at the Jahangirnagar University.He also said that the government is set to hike gas prices after six years to comply the prescription of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Terming the move ‘anti-people,’ he said this will adversely affect on almost every household consumers by pushing up their cost of living.Prof Anu Mohammad observed that the government was perusing a ‘wrong’ energy policy in which it had allowed the foreign gas companies to rule in the country’s hydrocarbon sector. Besides, it had also permitted the private entrepreneurs to set up costly rental and quick rental power plants forcing it for energy price hike in regular intervals. “The country’s energy sector is gripped by a deep-rooted systemic corruption that is creating hindrance on establishing good management in the sector. It is also creating bottleneck in sound pricing and reducing losses of distribution companies,” he observed.So, the government should take stringent measures to uproot the exiting corruption. It should also take steps to upgrade the ageing infrastructure of energy sector to enhance capacity of the sector, he suggested.”The decision of gas and electricity price hike is totally whimsical as such a step will badly affect the industries by pushing up their cost of production,” said Reaz-Bin-Mahmood, vice-president of BGMEA. He said it will also make the commodities costlier compounding miseries of the common man.A steep energy price hike will definitely disturb the growth of local industries, especially the export-oriented garment sector,” he said, “The industry is now facing immense challenge to cope with the rising cost of production from rising energy and transport cost”. “Our cost of production has grown 13 per cent last year harming the edge of the industry over its other competitors. When the apparel export growth continued to decline taking a heat from the rising cost of production, a further hike in energy prices will push the industry to on the verge of collapse,” he warned.He, however, urged the government to cancel its decision of energy price hike considering interest of the national economy.
