BERC raises bulk power tariff by 19.92pc

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) on Monday increased bulk power tariff by 19.92 per cent with effect from December 2022.
BERC Chairman Md Abdul Jalil announced the decision at a virtual news briefing and said that the new tariff was decided to save Tk 17,000 crore in subsidies the government spends on electricity.
He said that the tariff was not increased for the retail consumers.
"The BERC increased power tariff as oil and gas prices went up in the international market due to the Ukraine-Russia war," State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told reporters at his office.
He  said that power price was not increased for the retail consumers.
He said that only the bulk tariff has been adjusted upward by 19.92 percent.
"The new adjustment of power tariff will not be effective only for power distribution companies and some other bulk consumers, not for the retail consumers," he said.
On October 13, the BERS had rejected Bangladesh Power Development Board's (BPDB) proposal to raise power tariff, saying that there was data ambiguity in the proposal.    On Monday, BERC agreed to raise the tariff, saying  that it would not affect the retail consumers, "so we didn't have to analyse the socio-economic conditions".
"BERC cannot do it, as it is a clear violation of BERC Act, they need to hold fresh hearing," Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Vice President ASM Shamsul Alam pointed out.
The bulk power tariff hike will increase public sufferings as it will push the distributing companies to increase retail tariff to offset their loss, he added.
Power Division officials said that the government has been under tremendous pressure to raise power tariff to reduce the subsidy in power sector as per conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lend $4.5 billion to Bangladesh as part of its crisis management support.  
BPDB officials said they have to earn Tk 74,189 crore in revenue to generate 88,99.3 crore  kilowatt hours (units) of electricity to supply to the power distribution companies.
None of the distribution companies is prepared to submit their proposals to raise retail power tariff, officials said.  
Nasrul Hamid said that the distribution companies were preparing their proposals to submit to the BERC seeking substantial hikes in power tariff for  retail consumers.
"They are calculating the possible impacts of bulk power tariff hike," he said.
The BPDB has appealed to the BERC seeking review of the decision saying that its actual cost of supply was  Tk 8.96 per unit and not Tk 8.16 per unit.
On March 1, 2020, retail as well as bulk power tariffs were raised for the last time,
On November 14, the BPDB filed its appeal to the BERC seeking review of its decision,  as the regulators rejected its proposal on October 13.
BPDB filed the appealed within 30 stipulated working days.