People bewildered of random gas price hike
Kamruzzaman Bablu :
Within a month, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has been declared the new price of 12-kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Tk 57 setting the new price at Tk 1,235.
As a result, there is no way to became disoriented for the random hike price of gas specially mid-level and low income people.
Prices of service-oriented commodities are generally raised to overcome losses of service providing organisations, but the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has proposed to up gas prices despite the gas transmission and distribution companies making profit. So questions naturally arise as to the logic behind the price hike proposal.
The new price came into effect from Tuesday evening. BERC fixed the price of the LPG every month as its routine duty.
As per the new announcement of re-fixing the LPG price for the month of May, the price of a 12kg LPG cylinder will be Tk 1,235 by hiking Tk 57 from last month. In April, the announced price was Tk 1,178. With the revised price, per kg of LPG is now Tk 99.68 it said.
Meanwhile, it said, the price of autogas- the LPG used in cars will be Tk 57.52 per litre, which was earlier Tk 54.90 per litre in April.
BERC sets the price of private companies’ bottled LPG in line with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco’s contract prices of propane and butane, the main ingredients of the LPG, officials said.
This month, propane and butane prices increased to some extent, and so there was a hike in the LPG price, BERC press release said.
In raising the price of gas or any service-related commodity, it is necessary to take into consideration what benefits are to be gained. The income of gas transmission and distribution companies will increase if gas prices are hiked. It is essential to assess the losses to be incurred as the huge number of consumers will be affected and the production costs in industries will go up due to the gas price hike.
If the cost of industrial products is increased, it would have an impact on the consumers. Industrialists have already said that their production cost has increased by 35 per cent. If the price of gas is raised again, the production cost will increase further, which will be difficult to tackle.
The profit the companies are planning to make by increasing gas prices can be fulfilled by reducing system loss.
The energy crisis has to be assessed in a comprehensive manner. Gas reserves are depleting. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is being imported to meet rising demands. The government launched rental and quick rental power plants with huge subsidy to meet the power crisis, but this cannot go on forever.
In case of increasing the price of gas and electricity, the government has to consider the interest of the people. The government has to reach to a logical decision in this regard. Questions have been raised at the public hearing of BERC. This type of hearing should not be a mere token. The government has to take public opinion into cognisance in its decision making.
Meanwhile, the people did not get the LPG in the government announced price. It is the longstanding allegations from the consumers that they did not get the LPGs as per the BERC or the government announced price. They are bound to purchase the item as per the traders fixed price obviously huge high above the government announced prices.
Earlier, the BERC announced the 12 kg cylinder of LPG price at Tk 1178 instead of its previous price at Tk 1422 reducing by Tk 288 on April 4.
As per the announcement the people have to get a 12 kg cylinder of LPG at Tk 1178 since the day. But, the scenario of the market was totally different. No one consumer in the capital could buy a cylinder in the BERC fixed price. In most of areas in the capital the 12 kg cylinder was sold at Tk 1350 to 1500 instead of the government fixed price Tk 1178.
