Raising power tariff

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Shahiduzzaman Khan's front-page article on June 17 issue of the Financial Express is fairly reasonable except that the sudden long-jump in the tariff may well be unpalatable. We feel that both natural gas and power tariff needs to be raised to limit the unnecessary large subsidies for these items.
It is also a fact that natural gas is far cheaper and cleaner a fuel than wood, coal or kerosene, the other available options which are regularly used by the rural poor. It is illogical, that the government is subsidising the clean fuel users who waste natural gas in non-metered connections. These are the better-off urban population who should pay for the extra conveniences! The non-metered rate for natural gas should be raised further both for residential and commercial establishments.
However, hiking the tariff at one go, from Tk 16.75 to Tk 25.00, is an abrupt increase by close to 50 per cent. This is a bit too high and needs to be re-considered.
Both natural gas and electricity tariff may be increased up to a maximum of 20 per cent now (from July 1, 2010) and kept static for say two years, and then subsequently increased by ten per cent from July 1, 2012.
In my humble opinion, this may be the rational way to go about it. On this matter, emphasis must be laid on increasing electrical efficiency at homes and factories which may comfortably reduce our maximum power demand by at least 500 to 600 MW.
This will practically be like having another power plant! For further power saving, the government should actively provide financial incentive for using all measures for producing alternative power sources in-houses. Combining these two steps, we may well reach savings of around 1000 MW of power. I humbly request our lawmakers to consider these important issues in the long-term national interest!

Engr.S.A.Mansoor
Dhaka.
E-mail : sam07@dhakacom.com