The government has announced to increase the price of natural gas one more time in the industrial sector in order to adjust the subsidy.
With the latest development, the price of gas used for power generation has been increased by 179 percent from current Tk5.02 to Tk14 per cubic metre.
The gas price for captive power plants has also been raised by 88 percent to Tk30 from Tk16 per cubic meter. For large industries, the price increased by 150 percent to Tk30 from Tk11.98.
The new prices will be effective from 1 February, said a gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources on Wednesday
However, residential, CNG and tea industry gas prices remain the same while prices increased in power, industrial and commercial sectors.
According to the notification, the price of gas in the captive power (industries' own power generation) sector has been increased by 155 percent to Tk30 from Tk11.78 for medium industries and rose to Tk 30 from Tk 10.78 for small industries.
At the same time, in the case of commercial gas connection, it has been increased by 14 percent from Tk 26.64 to Tk 30.50 per cubic meter.
For residential customers, the price of one stove is same as Tk 990 and the price of two stoves is Tk 1,080.
Also, CNG price is Tk 43 per cubic meter and tea industry gas price is Tk 11.93 per cubic meter as before. The price of gas used in fertilizer factories has been kept at Tk 16 per cubic meter as before.
On June 5 last year, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) had increased the price of gas.
The wholesale price of gas per cubic meter was increased by 22.78 percent from Tk 9.70 taka to Tk 11.91 by BERC, which was effective from June of that year.
At that time, BERC fixed the monthly bill of natural gas in the residential sector at Tk 1,080 in case of two stoves and Tk 990 for one stove.
Earlier, customers had to pay Tk 975 for two stoves and Tk 925 for using one stove.
On the other hand, the price of gas was increased from Tk 10.70 to Tk 11.98 per cubic meter for large industries, to Tk 11.78 from Tk 10.70 for medium industries, to Tk 11.93 from Tk10.70 for small, cottage and other industries.
Meanwhile, on January 12, an executive order of the government increased the price of electricity.
Whereas the retail price of electricity at the consumer level has been increased by 19 paisa per unit.
The new prices came into effect on January 1, the first day of the year. It has also been informed that the retail price of electricity will be regularly adjusted every month from now on.
