The state-run Power Development Board has asked the National Board of Revenue to waive about 29 per cent taxes on imported electricity from India, saying that the
taxes would increase the cost significantly.
On November 6, the power board requested the NBR through power division to waive the taxes on the imported electricity, a PDB official told New Age.
When asked, he said that the cost of imported electricity would increase by between Tk 1 and Tk 1.50 per unit or kilowatt-hour of imported electricity if the NBR
realises the taxes.
Earlier, the Customs, Excise and VAT Commisionerate of Jessore issued several letters asking the power board to pay the taxes in four categories on the imported power.
In a recent letter issued on November 14, the Jessore customs office requested the power board’s member finance to take initiative to pay the taxes.
Bangladesh has started drawing 175MW of electricity from the Indian grid since October 1 on a commercial basis. The power supply will be increased to 500MW by
November, officials said.
But the power board authority has not yet submitted the ‘bill of entry’ to customs office, they said.
According to the rules, the power board is supposed to pay five per cent import duty, 15 per cent VAT, four per cent Advance Trade VAT and a five per cent Advance
Income Tax to the regional customs office on the imported electrical energy.
The state-run Power Grid Company of Bangladesh deals with the power import from India through a high voltage direct current sub-station set up at Bheramara in Kushtia.
Out of the 500MW, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam will supply 250MW from the Indian central government’s unallocated quota, which is usually supplied to different Indian
states, at a tariff set by the Indian Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.
PTC India Limited will supply the remaining 250MW of power from India’s private sector for three years for about Tk 6.35 a unit or kilowatt-hour.
According to the current tariff for India’s central government quota, Bangladesh will pay more than Tk 6 for a unit to the NTPC VVN.
A power board official said that the cost of imported electricity from Indian public sector would go up to Tk 1 per unit and that of the private sector by Tk 1.50 per
unit.
In addition, the power board is to count several technical losses by up to 16 per cent which would increase the cost of the imported electricity by Tk 1 per unit, a
power board official said.
The major sectors of losses include the loss on the power generation, during transmission and during the conversion of Indian alternating current at 400kV into direct
current and then again conversion of the direct current into alternating current at 230kV before feeding into Bangladesh’s national grid.
The official also said that the cost of imported electricity was not limited within the limit which was estimated earlier.
Besides the high-voltage substation, Bangladesh laid out a 29km high-voltage interconnectivity transmission line at Bheramara in Kustia in Bangladesh and India laid
out a 74km transmission line on its side.
Bangladesh invested about Tk 1,600 crore in building the infrastructure for the power trade.
An NBR official said that the board was planning to ask the PGCB authority to pay the taxes related with the power transmission business.
-With New Age input
