Power tariff at bulk, retail level hiked, effective 1 Feb
A notification has been issued to increase power tariff to be effective from 1 February at bulk and retail level. The Power Division published the gazette notification on Monday that has been released today, Tuesday.
Electricity prices have jumped by executive orders bypassing the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), the regulatory body of the power and energy sector. The average price per unit has been increased by 5 per cent. In the last 14 years, power tariff has been increased for the 11th time at the consumer level.
Earlier, BERC increased electricity prices by 19.92 per cent at the bulk level last November. It was implemented from December. Bulk price shot for the 10th time in 14 years. After that six power distribution companies applied to BERC to increase the retail prices from December.
BERC heard these applications on 8 January. It had been asked to render its opinion by January 15. After that BERC was supposed to announce the new price. The price was increased by the executive order of the government before that.