The country's energy regulator is all set to fix the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for the first time today (Monday) with all stakeholders watching eagerly.
Consumers are eyeing a rational pricing of the cooking fuel to help keep their monthly expenditures within budget, while businessmen are eyeing a good margin on sale of the fuel.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) held the first-ever public hearing to fix the LPG price in domestic market on January 14 this year with participation of stakeholders in line with a court instruction.
Consumer groups sought quality LPG at affordable price, while left-leaning political leaders demanded a cut in price, and operators demanded a price hike during the public hearing.
The BERC Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC), however, recommended fixing the price of a 12-Kg LPG cylinder at Tk 866, a 35-Kg cylinder at Tk 2,525, and a 45-Kg cylinder at Tk 3,246.
The LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh (LOAB) sought fixing the price of a 12-Kg LPG cylinder at Tk 1,259, a 35-Kg cylinder at Tk 3,672, and a 45-Kg cylinder at Tk 4,721.
Privately-owned Promita LPG sought a 12-Kg cylinder at Tk 1,024, a 35-Kg cylinder at Tk 2,987, and a 45-Kg LPG cylinder at Tk 3,840.
The state-run LP Gas Ltd sought a 16.66 per cent hike in its 12.5-kg LPG cylinder price to Tk 700 from existing Tk 600.
Energy adviser of the Consumers' Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Professor M Shamsul Alam demanded voiding the 'LP Gas Operational Licensing Policy 2017', formulated by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
Mr Alam also demanded immediate gazette publication of a proposed policy, prepared by the BERC, on fixing the petroleum prices, which he said, had been shelved by the EMRD for long.
The CAB leader also termed the proposal by LP Gas Ltd to hike the 12-kg LPG cylinder price to Tk 700 each and the TEC recommendation to fix it at Tk 866 per cylinder 'conspiracy'.
He also opposed the move to fix the LPG price every month, as it was 'contradictory' to the recently amended BERC rule to adjust energy price more than once in a year.
The operators must provide all sort of proofs against their demands to the commission and other necessary bodies before considering new LPG price, he added.
Currently, the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) fixes and announces retail level LPG price for its product occasionally, while the private sector's retail LPG price is fixed by the investors concerned without any public announcement.
The BPC reduced its retail level price of per 12.5-kg LPG cylinder by around 14 per cent to Tk 600 in last July from Tk 700.
The end-users, however, rarely get the BPC's LPG at the government-fixed price.
The private sector companies, meanwhile, have the freedom to sell LPG at prices fixed by them.
A committee of the BERC, several months back, suggested providing a 25 per cent subsidy on the LPG import price to the operators to trim down the cooking fuel price in the domestic market and keep it within the reach of commoners.
The committee opined that a portion of the LPG price should be variable in line with the price changes in international market. The costs of LPG - from its entry through the country's ports to reaching end-users - should be fixed by the commission time to time through public hearing.
The system would ensure a unified LPG price at retail level and reduce sufferings of the commoners.
The BERC committee also recommended import of LPG through bulk cargoes, each having the capacity of around 20,000 tonnes or above, instead of small cargoes.
Inflated transportation cost was the main barrier to lowering the LPG price in the local market, it stated.
Currently, the private sector imports LPG through small cargoes having the capacity of around 2,500-5,000 tonnes each.
The LPG price in West Bengal of India is cheaper by around US$60 per tonne compared to Bangladesh only due to the difference in transportation costs, it noted.
The BERC committee also suggested that the operators concerned should have the responsibility to send LPG cylinders to end-users to check its pilferage, use of substandard cylinders by middlemen or brokers, and accidents.
The LPG consumption in Bangladesh has already increased to around 1.0 million tonnes, and some 29 LPG operators are active in the country, it observed.
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