The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday increased the price of compressed natural gas to Tk 30 a cubic metre from Tk 25 with effect from midnight Monday.
The commission made the decision without holding a public hearing with the stakeholders.
At the same time, the commission increased the price of feed gas to the CNG filling stations to Tk 23 from Tk 18 a cubic metre.
The announcement came a day after the government increased the prices of all types of fuel oils by Tk 5 to Tk 8 a litre.
The commission last time increased the CNG price by about 50 per cent to Tk 25 a cubic metre from Tk 16.75 on May 12 this year.
A BERC official said that Hossain Monsur, chairman of the state-run Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation, Petrobangla, on Sunday sent a letter to the commission suggesting both CNG and feed gas price hike.
The letter suggested a 20 per cent increase in the CNG price and 27.70 per cent hike in the price of feed gas to the CNG stations on the ground that the CNG price should be adjusted to the increased prices of fuel oils.
The letter also said that the price hike would enable Petrobangla to earn an
additional Tk 551.58 crore.
The government will earn about Tk 2,590 crore in revenue from the increased price of CNG – Tk 1,673 crore more than last year’s figure.
According to the law, the government will get 55 per cent of the profit and the rest 45 per cent will be distributed between the Gas Development Fund and price deficit fund of Petrobangla.
Professor Shamsul Alam, energy adviser to the Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh, expressed disappointment at the decision of the commission to increase the CNG price without consulting the stakeholders.
He told New Age that according to Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act 2003, the commission must conduct a public hearing to fix the price of fuel oil, gas, power and a few other products.
BERC chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain said that the commission increased the CNG price hurriedly to adjust it to the prices of fuel oils.
About the commission’s avoiding a public hearing before the CNG price hike decision, he said the decision was taken in an emergency situation.
CNG-run vehicles now consume 105 to 110 million cubic feet of natural gas a day in the form of compressed natural gas dispensed from 584 CNG filling stations across the country.
-With New Age input
