The government is going to increase power tariff in bulk and consumer level from August next for the second time in the last six months.The hike in the power tariff is aimed at minimizing the subsidy in the power sector, according to sources. Earlier on February 1, the power tariff was raised by 11 per cent for bulk consumers and 5.0 per cent for retail consumers. The average electricity bulk tariff was fixed at Tk 2.63 per unit (1 kilowatt-hour) till July 30. The Power Division officials have expressed their apprehension that amount of subsidy in power sector may rise above Tk 6,000 crore in 2011-12 fiscal for buying electricity from the private sector-sponsored rental and independent power plants . They said the proposal from Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to increase the price of electricity from August is now under active consideration of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC). When contacted, BPDB chairman Alamgir Kabir said that if the power tariff was not raised, the amount of subsidy will definitely go up. BPDB has sent a proposal to this effect to BERC for its consideration, he added. The BPDB has proposed to hike the bulk power tariff by 6.66 per cent from next month which would require the bulk as well as retail consumers to pay 18.14 per cent higher, sources said. As per prescription of the World Bank, BPDB is required to raise the bulk electricity price by 12 per cent every six months or by a yearly rate of over 25 per cent up to 2013. A high official of ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said the government wanted to re-fix the price of electricity maintaining balance with increasing subsidy as each year the amount of subsidy is going larger. The amount of subsidy stands at Tk 4,400 crore for the current fiscal (2010-2011). It could cross over Tk 6,000 crore in the next fiscal, he added. Meanwhile, the government has taken plan to set up some long-term large-scale generation capacity based power plants instead of installing small rental power plants. The government is also interested in setting up these large plants under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis . For this reason, about TK 12,000 crore has been allocated in the power sector in the current fiscal, according to sources.
-With The New Nation input
