UNB, Dhaka :
The government raised the power tariff at the retail level by Tk 0.19 per unit, according to a gazette issued on Thursday.
The new price is effective from January 1.
Earlier in December, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that if the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) delays to decide on retail power hike proposals, the Power Division will make its own decision.
On November 21, the BERC raised bulk power price by 19.92% with effect from December 1.
Subsequently, six power distribution entities submitted their respective proposals to the BERC seeking a similar 19.44% hike in retail power tariff at consumer level.
But within a week, the Cabinet on November 28 approved an amendment to the BERC Ordinance 2022 to empower the government to set fuel tariff on its own under special circumstances without waiting for the commission’s public hearing and decision.
Earlier, the technical evaluation committee (TEC) of BERC recommended raising the weighted average tariff of electricity by 15.43 percent at the retail level against the demand of the distribution companies for hiking it by about 20 percent.
The committee suggested setting the weighted average retail tariff at Tk8.23 against the existing Tk7.13 per unit (each kilowatt hour) with a hike of Tk 1.10 per unit.
