Gas, power tariff to put pressure on people
The government is all set to increase gas and power tariff once again. The cabinet recently cleared the draft of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (amendment) Act 2019 to this end. The amendment will enable the authorities to change the tariff more than once in a fiscal year if necessary.
The Power Development Board maintains that the tariff hike is necessary to decrease losses. The government may incur losses if they supply power to the public at reduced rates. But losses due to capacity payment (the amount of money that the government pays to the power plants that are sitting idle due to no electricity demand) of private sector power plants is not at all acceptable. The government in the last fiscal paid the power plants Tk 150 billion as capacity payment. The subsidy reached Tk 79.70 billion last year. The authorities always resort to peoples’ purses to collect the subsidy.
The Awami League government has many successes in the power sector comparing to the BNP regime. Production has substantially improved in the last decade. People are getting electricity supply, even if at a high cost. But the BNP regime did not take measures despite acute crisis in the sector. Awami League government allowed rental and quick rental power plants for an interim period of three to five years to resolve the crisis at that moment. But there is no justification in running these plants after big power plants in public and private sectors have been established. Still, some rental power plants are operational which costs the government subsidy.
Besides, demand of power in industrial sector is actually less than government estimation. The industries are running power plants of their own as they cannot rely on public and private power plants. They fear those power plants would not be able to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
Experts think that power transmission lines of the country are still dilapidated despite increase in power production capacity. Although production capacity is 20,000 megawatt in the country right now, actual production of power stands at maximum 12,000 megawatt in summer season and 9,000 in winter. There is no answer to the question as to why we cannot touch full production capacity.
State minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid maintains that power tariff hike is required as fuel prices had increased in the international market. Experts think that there is a possibility to get new gas reserves in the country’s land and government should concentrate on finding new gas mines and extracting from those. It’s unfortunate that the authorities failed to do anything to search for gas reserves in the Bay of Bengal.
Gas and power tariff hike puts negative impact on peoples’ lives. Production costs in industries will increase in line with the hike and people will have to bear the ultimate brunt. The government should find alternatives rather than put pressure on the people. Relying too much on import-oriented energy policy rather than exploring for gas reserve will not bode well for the future.