CAB wants ‘open meet’ before power price-hike

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will begin a three-day public hearing from today on the power tariff hike proposals submitted by five electricity-distributing entities.  
The hearing will be held in the conference room of BERC today, tomorrow and on Thursday. But this is the first time there will be no ‘open meeting’, which is held prior to the ‘public hearing’. This is violation of rules, claimed consumer rights groups.
They have protested the regulator’s move to the public hearing without any ‘open meeting’.  
The consumer rights groups alleged that the regulator had violated the law by fixing the date of public hearing on retail electricity tariff proposal, without holding an open meeting.  
Professor Shamsul Alam, adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said that it would be a violation of the BERC law if the open meeting was not held. “It is a serious breach of the BERC law.”  
However, BERC chairman AR Khan said the open meeting has been dropped to save time. In the past, once BERC received any proposal on power tariff hike, it invited an open meeting of the stakeholders to discuss the merit or necessity of the proposal and then set a date for public hearing to facilitate a full-fledged discussion.  
Earlier, last week, the five state-owned electricity distribution companies submitted their respective proposals as per a decision of the government to hike retail power tariff by 8.59 to 23.50 percent per unit.  
As per the proposals, the Rural Electrification Board (REB) sought 12.58 percent rise in its existing tariff; West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited for 8.59 percent hike; Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) 15.90 percent; Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) 23.50 percent; and Power Development Board (PDB) proposed a 15.50 percent hike.
They also urged the BERC to make the proposed increased power tariff effective from March 1. The hearing on proposals of the PDB and the West Zone Company will be held on March 4 (Tuesday), while the proposals of DPDC and DESCO will be heard on Mar 5 (Wednesday), and on REB proposals on Mar 6 (Thursday).
 The power distribution companies have been incurring huge loss for the government’s purchase of electricity from the high cost rental and quick rental power plants. Officials said this has prompted them to move for making their fresh appeals to raise the electricity tariff at the retail level.  
The BERC last increased the retail price of electricity by 15 percent from Tk 5 to Tk 5.75 per unit on September 20, 2012.