Natural gas availability is decreasing day by day, and our resources are finite. Contrarily, consumption has shot up and is increasing day by day. We must therefore take all necessary steps to curtail its consumption. Some years back, it was a practice to keep the gas burner "switched on" day and night. What a waste of valuable resource! It seemed that resources were endless. To contain consumption, we must introduce user based retail pricing-- the sooner the better.
The highest tariff should be on private automobiles, say 20 per cent below petrol prices for identical calorific value. Next slab should be for public transport, like buses, trucks and vans where it could be set, say 35 per cent for identical calorific value compared to diesel fuel. For household use, it should be on volumetric basis, set by different unit rates for slabs of gas volumes consumed. The rate should be progressively higher, as higher volumes are consumed, so that the elderly and retired household which should have far less consumption should be lower. The axiom should be that the more the consumption, the higher the unit rate for that slab. There should be a rational way of price setting that should favour the household consumers generally. Hopefully this may decrease overall national consumption of this valuable fuel.
Engr S A Mansoor
Dhaka
Rationale behind natural gas pricing
FE Team | Published: October 10, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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