A cross section of the people has adversely reacted to the power price increase as it will add to their sufferings.
Experts, politicians, businessmen and common people think that power price increase would push up essential goods prices that have already hit hard low- and middle-income groups.
Abdullah Al Mamun, a resident of Jatrabari, told New Age that his house owner on Tuesday night had asked the tenants to pay Tk 500 more with house rent in electricity bill as the power price has been increased.
‘The government has just announced the increase and we are bearing the brunt as the cost of living has gone up more than it should have,’ he said.
With the consent of the government, the Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday increased the bulk price of power 11 per cent and the retail price by 5 per cent with effect from February 1.
The commission did not hold any open meeting or public hearing in increasing the retail price of electricity.
The commission also recommended that the government should give to the power board, the country’s single buyer of electricity, Tk 1,500 crore in subsidy so that it could break even.
The Energy Regulatory Commission said that the increase in retail price by 5 per cent was an interim arrangement so that the distribution agencies did not count losses as on February 1 it would be buying electricity from the power board at a rate 11 per cent higher than the previous rate.
The commission will soon set retail electricity price after the distribution agencies submit their proposals.
Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association, told New Age that the government had increased price of furnace oil by Tk 9 a litre first and now it had increased the electricity price leaving no options for businesses but to count losses.
Terming the apparel industries the sector with the maximum growth, he said that increase in electricity price would hinder the target of earning $17 billion from export as the government had failed to supply uninterrupted power to the industries.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology professor Nurul Islam told New Age that the confidence of consumers in the commission would decrease as the commission has increased the retail price of electricity without any open meeting and public hearing.
He said that the commission had more than three months to hold an open meeting and public hearing to set the retail power price.
The commission on November 4, 2010 received the proposal for increasing retail rate along with bulk rate of electricity from the power board.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and the Communist League of Bangladesh expressed their concerns about the price increase and demanded that the order should be withdrawn.
They said that on the one hand the government had failed to arrest essential goods price spiral and on the other hand, it had increased electricity prices.
They said that the generation cost of electricity had increased as the government had given a number of projects to the private sector and taken up many projects to set up expensive fuel oil-fired power plants both in the public and the private sector.
They also said that the government had increased electricity prices without taking any significant initiative in reducing system loss and improving efficiency in generation, transmission and distribution.
