Now power tariff to go up from February instead of March

Shawdesh desk:

Power tariff will be increased from 1 February instead of 1 March, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said on Thursday.

A gazette notification will be issued today regarding the power tariff adjustment, he said while briefing reporters at his ministry.

Earlier he said the new tariff will come into effect from 1 March.

He said the power tariff will be hiked between Tk0.34 and Tk0.70 per unit for all kinds of consumers depending on their volume of consumption while gas price will go up by Tk0.75 per unit only for power plants.

He also said a dynamic fuel pricing will be introduced for the consumers from 1 March under which the price of petroleum will go up and down in line with international market prices.

“Each month fuel price will be declared for the consumers,” he said, adding neighbouring India does this every day.

He noted that steps have been taken to minimise the government losses caused by the increase in the dollar rate. “This year the government will incur a loss of Tk43,000 crore due to the sale of electricity at a lower price.”

This step has been taken as part of the government’s move to come out of the subsidies now being given to the power sector, said the state minister.

According to the BPDB’s Annual Report 2022-23, the fiscal year saw the production of 87,024 million kilowatt hours of electricity at a total cost of Tk98,646 crore.

Its per unit production cost was Tk11.33, while it was selling electricity at Tk6.7 per unit — incurring a loss of about Tk4.63 per unit.

This imbalance has led to a staggering loss of Tk47,788 crore for the fiscal year, as the government grapples with purchasing power from private and international sources at significantly higher rates.

With this huge loss, the government has been facing great trouble as it has to purchase electricity worth Tk82,778 crore from private sector power producers, while it generates electricity worth Tk13,307 crore from its own generation plants.

The annual report also shows that the BPDB’s average per unit production cost from its own plants is Tk7.63, while it is Tk14.62 at the independent power producers or IPPs (private sector), at rental plants Tk12.53, at public plants Tk6.85, and imported power from India at Tk8.77.

The government purchases electricity from the private sector and India in dollars.