Power price goes up again

Staff Correspondent: The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) on an average has hiked power tariff by 5.3 percent or Tk. 0.35 per unit.

It, however, decided not to raise bulk tariff.

BERC Chairman Monwar Islam announced the decision at a press conference in the capital's Karwan Bazar on Thursday.

He told the meeting that the new tariff will come into effect from December.

The regulatory body announced its decision on power tariff hike proposals placed by different state-owned companies.

Earlier, the Commission held a series of public hearings on their proposals from September 25 to October 5.

It also held a special public hearing on power tariff reduction proposal placed by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) to reduce the bulk power tariff.

CAB has proposed reducing the bulk tariff price by Tk 1.32 per unit taking different measures and implementing the previous BERC order to ensure the purchase of lowest-cost electricity by Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB).

Earlier, the PDB proposed raising the power tariff by 15 percent per unit at the bulk level.

Currently, the bulk tariff of per unit electricity is Tk 4.90. The PDB wants it to be refixed at Tk 5.99.

risingbd/Dhaka/Nov 23, 2017/Yeamin/AI