Bangladesh
Power Tariff Power tariff not increasing
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, Oct 13: The power tariff is remaining unchanged. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has not taken any decision to increase the tariff of electricity as per the proposal of the Power Development Board- PDB.
Chairman of the organization Md. Abdul Jalil shared this information in an online press conference regarding the announcement of the power tariff organized by BERC at around 12 pm on Thursday (October 13).
He said, "The decision was supposed to be communicated within 90 working days. We have sat through it many times. We have done the trial and analysis. Today is the last day we announced."
In response to a question, the BERC chairman said that the proposal given by PDB was unclear. However, if there is any objection to today's decision, they can apply for a review. In that case, they also have to present all their information clearly and newly and apply for review. Then we will do what the law says. There may be another public hearing on this or it may be taken up directly.
The press conference was attended by BERC Secretary Barrister Khalilur Rahman Khan and other members and officials of the Power Development Board.
Earlier, on May 18, the commission held a public hearing on PDB's proposal to increase electricity prices. According to the rules, a decision is to be taken within 90 working days after the public hearing. The 90 working day period for the public hearing will end on October 14. That's why they decided to announce it on October 13.
In the public hearing, PDB requested to increase the price by about 66 percent. At that time, the technical evaluation committee formed by BERC recommended a 58 percent price hike without subsidy and no price hike with subsidy. But BERC did not consider any of the proposals in the final decision.
Earlier, in February 2020, BERC fixed the wholesale tariff of electricity at Tk 5.17 per unit. As there will be no hike, the tariff remains the same.
