State minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid on Saturday said the government is only adjusting the electricity tariff, not hiking it. ‘We have not raised the electricity tariff. We're just adjusting it,’ Nasrul said while briefing a group of reporters at his residence at Baridhara in the capital.
Adding that the subsidy for power sector is increasing day by day, which is a burden on the Bangladesh Power Development Board he said, “So increase of power price has become a must to reduce subsidy. However, in spite of power price increase, the government will have to provide around taka 10 thousand crore as subsidy in this sector.”
‘Hope it will not become a burden to people. The government's target is to provide uninterrupted electricity for all at an affordable price. We are working to implement the target,’ Nasrul Hamid said. High officials of Power, Energy and Mineral resources were also present during the briefing.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission or BERC has hiked retail electricity price by Tk 0.36 or 5.3 percent to Tk 7.13 per unit, making the new rate effective from March. The BERC announced the decision from a media briefing in Dhaka on Thursday after holding a public hearing on a proposed increase in bulk electricity tariff.
The BERC hiked the wholesale price of power by 8.4 percent to Tk 5.17 per unit. The cost of power transmission or wheeling charge has also been increased by 5.3 percent or Tk 0.29 per unit. The government previously raised retail power price by Tk 0.35 or 5.3 percent per unit in November 2017. As a result, household price of up to 75 units of electricity went up by Tk 15; 150 units by Tk 48; 250 units by Tk 90; 450 units by Tk 196; and the cost of 1,000 units increased by Tk 604.
