7pc plus, from March

Consumers, already in tight corner due to continuous rise in living cost, were slapped with yet another power tariff hike as the energy regulator yesterday raised electricity prices by 6.96 percent.
This was the sixth hike in power prices in two years. The fresh increase was made, despite a public outcry, to help distribution companies cut losses, claims the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC).
Soon after the decision was made public, the BNP announced countrywide demonstrations for today to protest the move.
The new tariff will be effective from March 1, said AR Khan, chairman of the BERC, while talking to reporters at his office in the city yesterday.
The hike takes the average price of each unit of electricity to Tk 6.15 from existing Tk 5.75 at the consumer level.
Following the hike, a household consuming 250 units of electricity would have to pay Tk 68 more than it previously did, explained Delwar Hossain, a BERC member.
This additional amount, however, did not include demand charges, service charges and value added tax, he added.
Though this is the first retail power tariff hike since the current government took office in January, the previous Awami League-led grand alliance government increased the tariff five times between 2011 and 2012.
In the first week of March, the BERC held a public hearing where consumer rights groups, left-leaning political parties and businesses strongly opposed the bid to increase power prices. The BNP too had criticised the move.
The hike came a month after the country's five power distributors submitted their proposals to the energy regulator in this regard.
In their proposals, Power Development Board (PDB) had proposed 15.5 percent tariff hike, Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) 23.50 percent, Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) 15.90 percent, Rural Electrification Board (REB) 12.58 percent and West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC) 8.59 percent.
However, the BERC raised average retail power tariff for consumers of the PDB by 7.17 percent, of the DPDC by 7.69 percent, of the DESCO 7.34 percent, of the REB 5.41 percent and of the WZPDC by 7.14 percent.
The energy regulator has also brought down the ceiling of the life-line slab to 50 units from 75 units but kept the tariff unchanged. The tariff for irrigation pumps has not been increased either.
"We have raised the tariff in a way that puts no financial strain on the people, especially the low income group of them, and the agriculture sector," said the BERC chairman, while justifying the decision.
"The new tariff is realistic and is within the affordability of the people," he claimed.
Consumers, however, were little convinced.
Aftab Hossain, a resident of the capital's Mohammadpur area, said the government should concentrate on how the power generation cost could be cut, instead of increasing the tariff.
Mazharul Huq, a consumer from Mirpur area, said the fresh hike would only add further burden to his living cost.
Meanwhile, the BNP will stage demonstrations in every Thana areas of the capital and every district and upazila across the country today, protesting the power price hike.
BNP's Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed declared the programme at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office yesterday, hours after the BERC had announced the tariff hike.
Rizvi alleged that the government was trying to make up for the losses it had incurred from the corruption-ridden quick rental power plants, by "robbing people of their money".