Tk 14.44 per unit tariff rate fixed for industries

---

FE Report
Country's energy regulator has fixed an average power tariff at Tk 14.44 per unit for the industrial consumers who want to get uninterrupted electric supply from the state-owned power entities.
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain announced the new tariff rate at a press conference at the commission's office in the city Monday.
The export-oriented industrial consumers will be able to get uninterrupted electricity supply from June 1, 2012.
"This hike in electricity tariff is not a conventional one," Hossain said, adding, "the consumers who are interested to get uninterrupted electricity supply will get this at higher rates."
Terming the consumers who will get the electricity under the new tariff rate 'Q class', he said the new tariff for 132 kilo-volt (kv) electricity per unit would be Tk 13.88, 33 kv Tk 14.45 and 11 kv Tk 14.99.
The industrial consumers are now getting electricity, with load shedding, at a flat rate of Tk 5.33 per unit, Tk 5.61 per unit and Tk 5.90 per unit for 132 kv, 33 kv and 11 kv respectively.
The current average electricity tariff rate is Tk 5.61 per unit.
BERC chairman said around 500 megawatts (mw) of electricity from eight furnace oil-fired power plants could be supplied to the industrial consumers.
The consumers would have to build electricity transmission lines, set up sub stations and develop necessary infrastructure to get the uninterrupted electricity supply.
They will have to cut the current electricity connections to get the new supplies, said the BERC Chairman.
State-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) earlier submitted a proposal to the commission for raising electricity tariff against the supply of uninterrupted electricity to mills and factories to boost production provided they pay higher tariff.
It costs around Tk 16 now to produce a single unit of electricity in oil-fired power plants, Tk 2-3 in gas-fired power plants, Tk 5.0 in coal-fired plants and Tk 1.0 in hydro-power plants, BPDB says.
The power ministry earlier requested the industry owners to suspend operation of mills and factories for 12 hours a day - from 6 pm to 6 am - to facilitate electricity supply for irrigation.
Currently, industrial units are getting only a half of their total demand of 2,200 mw for electricity, PDB chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir said.
For the present, the government has kept shut most of the oil-fired rental and quick rental power plants set up during the last three years under a cost-cutting measure resulting in frequent power outages.
They said around 75 per cent of the new oil-fired power plants, numbering 22 having the total electricity generation capacity of around 1300mw remain idle.
Power outage is now rampant as the state-run power distribution companies are enforcing load-shedding every alternate hour.
High price of petroleum products in international market has increased electricity generation cost of the oil-fired power plants substantially resulting in the suspension of generation in those plants, BPDB officials said.
To reopen oil-fired power plants, the tariff rate hike was necessary, they said.