The interim government is set to amend the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act 2023 to bring back the public hearing system to fix the prices of electricity and gas, which the Awami League led government has scrapped and introduced the method to fixing up the prices through executive orders.
The gazette of the law amendment will be published soon, a senior official of the Energy Division has said.
In January, 2023, government amending Section 34 (a) of the Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act 2003, which empowered the government to fix, re-fix or adjust electricity and gas tariffs.
Now the government will go back to the old method of fixing electricity and gas prices through hearings by scrapping Section 34(a) of the Act.
In his maiden meeting with the reporters, On 18 August, Power and Energy Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, told reporters that if necessary prices will again be set through public hearings held by the BERC.
"We will not raise prices unless we are forced to. If necessary, the commission will talk to everyone and take a decision following the policy," he added.
He also directed the the Power Development Board (BPDB) to submit a position paper on the financial and economic state of the state-owned entity within the next seven working days.
BPDB claimed that it has been incurring a loss of over Tk 45,000 crore annually and paying a Tk 37,093 crore in capacity charge to the private power producers.
"We have started our job from today (Monday) as per directives," a senior official of BPDB has said.
It has been found that there is a huge row over the BPDB's claim and Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC)'s observation.
BPDB officials said the state-owned Power Development Board (BPDB) will prepare a position paper on the financial and economic condition of the organisation within a week.
Officials said the new directive came from the maiden meeting of the adviser with the top officials of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and their subordinate bodies on Sunday.
Following the meeting, the new adviser said he would take decisions after analysing the position paper.
The country's power and energy sector has been passing a critical juncture where the BPDB has been incurring a loss of over Tk 45,000 crore annually in buying electricity at higher cost while its pending outstanding bills with private companies is Tk 45,000 crore.
On Sunday the new adviser took two major decisions-crapping of the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special) Act 2010 and also the amendments to the BERC Act 2003.
Many energy experts and economists identified Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special) Act 2010 as the main source of corruption for which the power and energy sector has been over burdened with huge financial losses.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Sunday published a new research paper that demands that the interim government should first focus on bringing a major reform in the country's power and energy sector.
It also suggested the government change the power and energy procurement policy and start negotiations with the private power producers to re-fix their tariffs and introduce "no electricity, no payment" policy to avoid the extra burden "capacity charge."
However, along with the CPD, country's energy experts, stakeholders urge the interim government to restore BERC's authority over power and energy pricing by scrapping a recent amendment to the BERC Act 2003.
