The finance division has so far disbursed Tk 2,914 crore in subsidy for buying electricity from rental and quick-rental plants in the first seven months, between July,
2012 and January this year, of the outgoing financial year.
The cumulative amount stands at Tk 2,914 in the first seven months of outgoing fiscal 2012-13 after the finance ministry has recently disbursed Tk 503.58 crore in subsidy for the purchase of rental power over the months of December and January.
The power board, however, claimed Tk 3,114 crore, Tk190 crore higher than what the finance division disbursed for the first seven months of 2012-13 fiscal, officials said.
When asked why finance division disbursed Tk 190 crore less than what the power board had claimed for first seven months for rental power, a PDB official said that the ministry did not explain the reason.
‘But I think the ministry found that the power board had the scope of increasing low cost power generation in the public sector which would reduce the expenditure by buying less electricity from the rental plants,’ the official said.
Last year, the finance division asked the power board to submit the status of power plants in the public sector, particularly those run on gas, along with the application for subsidy requirement.
Meanwhile, the power board sought another Tk 1,589 crore in subsidy for power purchase from the expensive rental plants for three months, between February and April this year.
‘The power board has estimated that it would need another Tk 1,000 in subsidy for the rest of the months, May and June, of the outgoing fiscal year. With this, the subsidy requirement for power board for the outgoing fiscal year would be limited at about Tk 5,500 crore, Tk 900 crore less than the allocation in the budget,’ the power board official said.
However, the amount was initially estimated at between Tk 7,000 crore and Tk 8,000 crore for the 2012-13 fiscal year against the government budgetary allocation of Tk 6,400 crore.
But the rise in power prices in September last year and regulated production of electricity from rental plants during winter had reduced the subsidy requirement, the official said.
When asked, power board member Tamal Chakrabarti said that the authorities reduced power purchase to a minimum level from the rental plants by imposing load shedding at the consumers’ end.
The power board buys electricity from 15 rental and 17 quick rental power plants at up to Tk 22 a kilowatt-hour (unit).
On the other hand, the PDB on an average spends about Tk 1.70 for generating a unit of electricity in the public-sector power plants run on gas against its average sales price to the power distribution agencies set at Tk 4.70 a unit in September 2012.
In a letter issued on May 19, the finance division asked the power board to spend the entire fund, Tk503.58 crore, only to make up the deficit created due to power purchase from the rental plants in December and January last.
The government does not subsidise the power board in grant but as a soft loan with condition of repayment at three per cent interest in 20 years with a five-year grace period.
The Energy Regulatory Commission, being pursued by the government, started increasing power prices to adjust with the growing generation cost since February 2011.
With the latest round of power price hike made in September 20, the commission since February 2011 has so far increased the bulk price by 98.31 per cent – from Tk 2.37 to Tk 4.70 a unit – on an average in six phases.
At the same time, the commission has also raised the retail prices by 50 per cent on an average in six phases – from Tk 4 to Tk 6 a unit – over the period.
-With New Age input
