Hike Power price keeping poor consumers’ interest in mind

It must be acknowledged that the proposal by the Power Division to increase electricity prices at the wholesale and consumer levels will create hardship for ordinary consumers, although necessary in the current domestic and global circumstances.

Already the division has prepared three alternative proposals to increase the wholesale electricity price for consumers as well as households, which will result in an increase in the price of electricity in households of about 8 to 20 percent depending on usage.

Needless to say, if this price increase per unit is implemented, the amount of value added tax (VAT) applied for many years will also increase, which increases with the increase in electricity bills.

Moreover, meter rent will be added to it. The main thing is that if the proposal for increasing the price of electricity is implemented, there will be another jump in the overall cost of living of the consumer.

The increase in electricity prices at the consumer level is happening at a time when the cost of living has been going out of reach for the past several years, especially for people with limited and low incomes.

This means that the increase in electricity prices will be a burden on the lower and even middle rungs of the social ladder.

The negative impact of this price increase will inevitably fall on the industrial and agricultural sectors, the burden of which will in turn be borne by the consumers.

It would not be surprising if new investment in the industrial and agricultural sectors also decreases due to the increase in production costs.

We know that in the context of global instability, the government has decided to adjust electricity prices to address the pressure of domestic subsidies in the energy and power sectors.

As a result, there will be no public hearing at the consumer level.

Reportedly, the executive branch will take the final decision after considering the proposals of the power division.

It is possible to significantly reduce the cost of electricity generation if the amount of money given from the treasury to the idle power plants and the theft in the form of system losses can be prevented.

But it is not known that the government has taken steps to reduce the capacity charge or system losses.

We believe that when finalizing the decision to increase electricity prices, the government will take steps that will cause the least hardship to the majority of consumers.