What DR. M Tamim says about BERC's role

Since 2008, BERC has held hearings to fix electricity and natural gas tariffs, introducing a degree of transparency and accountability into utility governance. These hearings allow consumers and the public to scrutinise company accounts, assess efficiency, and question proposed increases. Utilities must apply, justify the hike, and submit to a public process before rates are set. Where inefficiency or excessive spending emerges, BERC can impose conditions or remedial rules.

Yet the commission’s credibility remains contested. BERC is supposed to be an independent state-run regulator, insulated from the governing party and the executive. In practice, it has never fully exercised that independence. Hearings and price-discovery exercises take place, but because subsidies are involved, BERC must consult the government before finalising tariffs.

The pattern is telling: utilities seek 60-100 percent increases; BERC ultimately grants 10-20 percent after cost analysis, calibrated to the subsidy the government is willing to provide. In a monopolistic market with weak accountability, efficiency and cost-cutting are rarely enforced; the burden simply shifts to consumers. 

The hearing process, however useful, thus risks becoming less a check on utility power than a mechanism for legitimising predetermined outcomes. Without genuine independence and enforcement, transparency alone cannot protect consumers.