This time the price of electricity has increased by 20 percent, effective from December

News Desk:   Electricity price has been increased by 19.92 percent at the wholesale level. Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has announced this in a press conference regarding the announcement of wholesale electricity prices today (Monday).

As a result, electricity at the wholesale level has increased from 5 taka 17 paisa to 6 taka 20 paisa per unit. The commission also said that this new price will be effective from the next bill month of December.

BERC last fixed the wholesale price of electricity at Rs 5.17 paise per unit in February 2020. Then the Power Development Board (PDB) proposed to increase the wholesale price of electricity on January 12. The company asked for a price hike of around 66 percent. A public hearing on their proposal was held on May 18.

At the hearing, BERC's technical committee recommended a 58 percent price hike. After almost 5 months, on October 13, BERC said, considering the overall situation and not being able to show any logical reason, the application of PDB has been rejected.

In a press conference on October 13, BERC Chairman Abdul Jalil also said that the proposal given by PDB was unclear. However, if there is any objection to today's decision, they can apply for a review. In that case, they also have to present all their information clearly and newly and apply for review. Then we will do what the law says. There may be another public hearing on this or it may be taken up directly.

Those concerned said that the IMF delegation that visited Dhaka had a meeting with PDB and Power Department on November 2 and BERC on November 6. During this time, electricity price, subsidy and loss of PDB were discussed. After that, PDB applied for reconsideration of the commission's order.

Today (Monday) held a press conference and announced the price increase BERC chairman. At that time, the chairman of the commission Abdul Jalil, member Abu Farooq, member Maqbul E Elahi, member Bazlur Rahman and other senior officials were present.

Currently, PDB is spending Tk 14-15 per unit of electricity generation. So day by day the losses of the company are increasing. According to PDB, their loss in the financial year 2020-21 was Tk 11 thousand 509 crore. In the financial year 2021-22, the loss exceeded 31 thousand crore rupees. In the current financial year (2022-23), the company believes that the amount of loss may exceed 50 thousand crore rupees.

Meanwhile, distribution companies are also making requests to increase the price of electricity at the consumer level due to the news that wholesale prices are being increased. 6 distribution companies will offer to increase the price at the customer level depending on how much the wholesale electricity price increases. BERC will announce the new price after hearing these proposals.

 

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