Fresh power tariffhike on cards

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FE Report A fresh electricity tariff hike is on the cards as the energy regulator has accepted proposals from two state-owned power entities to raise power tariff at retail levels, officials said. State-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) submitted a proposal to raise electricity tariff by average 10 per cent to Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Wednesday. Another state-run power entity Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC) also submitted a similar proposal to BERC and the commission subsequently accepted its proposal too. Public hearing on the power tariff hike proposals of BPDB and DPDC will be held within this month to decide on tariff hike, said a BERC official. Two other state-run power entities - Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO) and Rural Electrification Board (REB) - submitted their proposals earlier to raise power tariff. A senior BERC official said the commission has planned to set a unified power tariff for all the state-run power entities, which might be reflected through its next verdict. BPDB has proposed that the retail level electricity tariff for the residential clients consuming electricity below 100 units should be raised to Tk 2.80 per unit (1 kWh) instead of the current Tk 2.80 per unit. For residential clients consuming electricity from 101- 400 units, BPDB has proposed to raise it to Tk 4.0 per unit from the existing Tk 3.46 per unit. Electricity tariff for the clients consuming above 400 units may be raised to Tk 6.50 per unit from existing Tk 5.93 per month. BPDB has proposed to fix tariff at Tk 8.0 per unit for the residential clients consuming above 1000 units per month. For small-scale industries new flat power tariff as proposed by BPDB is Tk 5.70 per unit instead of existing Tk 4.56 per unit. The government has planned to raise the power tariff to reduce subsidy from the government part to state-owned power entities, Prime Minister's Advisor Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi told newsmen Wednesday.