Bangladesh
Power Tariff Electricity prices rise again at wholesale and retail levels
Dhaka, February 1: Electricity prices increased again at the wholesale and retail levels. This price has increased by executive order. For this, a notification was issued by the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources on Monday. The new prices will be effective from February.
At the retail level, electricity prices have increased by 5 percent, while at the wholesale level, they have increased by 8.06 percent. At the wholesale level, the average loaded price per unit has been increased from Tk 6.20 to Tk 6.70. The wholesale (bulk) price has increased by 50 paisa per kilowatt hour for all companies in each tier (230, 132 and 33 KV).
The government hiked electricity prices for the second time through an executive order under the authority of the amended Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act. The government has been empowered in the 'Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023' to fix, re-fix and adjust fuel oil, electricity and gas prices at the consumer level without BERC in special cases.
The ordinance was promulgated on December 1. Later, when the parliament session was held, it was turned into a law. The gazette of the law was issued on 22 January. According to this law, the government has announced to adjust (increase-decrease) the price of gas and electricity every month. On January 18, through a notification, the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources announced to increase the price of gas in the industrial, power generation and commercial sectors up to a maximum of Tk 19 per unit.
As per the new electricity rates, for residential lifeline (up to 50 units of electricity) customers will have to pay Tk 4.14 instead of Tk 3.93 per unit. Users up to 75 units will have to pay Tk 4.52 instead of Tk 4.40 per unit.
Apart from this, the price of each unit from 76 to 200 residential units has been increased from Tk 6.01 to Tk 6.31, from 201 to 300 units from Tk 6.30 to Tk 6.62, from 301 to 400 units increased from Tk 6.66 to Tk 6.99 per unit.
Apart from this, users of residential units from 401 to 600 units will be charged Tk 10.96 instead of Tk 10.44, and users of more than 600 units will have to multiply the price per unit by Tk 12.63 instead of Tk 12.03.
