PM’s directive to go for uniform power tariff for rural people

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the utility agencies to make a common electricity tariff chart for the rural poor people, living in remote char areas (Island) and coastal areas, to remove inequality between the grid and off grid consumers.
The Prime Minister has given the directive to the officials of the Power Division and asked them to take immediate steps in this regard, Power Cell DG Mohammad Hossain told the Daily Observer.
To implement the Prime Minister's, directives, the Power Division held a meeting chaired by the Secretary Dr Sultan Ahmed where all chiefs of the utility agencies were present.
"This is for the first time the Prime Minister has taken up the issue to justify the subsidy for all consumers. As per directives of the Prime Minister, we asked all utility agencies to accumulate data in this regard," Power Cell DG Mohammad Hossain told the Daily Observer.
It may be mentioned that the government is giving TK 6,000 crore to 7,000 crore on an average as subsidy in power sector for the last one      decade but the people living in off-grid areas are not the beneficiary of this subsidy.
Nowadays, the people living at Moheshkhali, Monpura, Sandip, Hatia and other different chars (Islands) in the Bay are getting electricity from the private power generating companies. It is a common scenario in off grid areas where millions of people are living.
The people living under the grid connectivity areas are paying Tk 4.5 to Tk 4.87 for per unit electricity consumption, however, at Moheshkhali, it is TK 32-35 for the same unit. The system of other chars or off grid areas is almost same,  according to the Power Division.
The Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) report said 8 per cent of electricity access in Bangladesh is provided by off-grid solar, making it one of the top 6 countries with electricity access from off-grid solutions. However, these number of people are paying very high tariff.
The power tariff is determined by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) but the independent producers produced has fixed the price of electricity as per their wish, it should not be continue, the PM's directives observed.
According to REN21, the rate of electricity access in Bangladesh reached 95 per cent in 2019, up from only 47 per cent in 2010 and will reach 100 per cent by 2021.
The availability of off-grid solar and mini-grid technologies, coupled with new business models that make productive uses of energy affordable, have accelerated the demand for renewable applications in Bangladesh in recent years. Some 1,500 solar pumps were deployed between 2013 and 2019 under the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) Solar Irrigation Program.