Power tariff goes up from today
The retail tariff of electricity goes up by Tk 0.31 per unit from today, taking the price to Tk 5.02.
On December 1, the price of per kilowatt-hour electricity was hiked by 13.24 percent to Tk 4.71 in the first phase of a two-stage increment imposed by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC).
This time the tariff has been increased by 7.09 percent.
"We decided to increase the price in phases to keep its impact on people and industries tolerable," BERC Engineer Emdadul Haque told the Daily Star yesterday.
With this time, the power tariff has been increased thrice in last one year. On February 8 last year, BERC increased the average retail electricity tariff by 5 percent.
Customers, however, will be charged different power prices as the country's five power suppliers maintain different tariffs for different groups.
Customers of Power Development Board, the country's lone buyer of electricity from generation companies, will pay 6.74 percent more from today.
Rural Electrification Board's customers, who pay more than their urban peers, will see their electricity bills increase by 6.58 percent this time.
Dhaka Electricity Supply Company (Desco) will charge its customers 7.44 percent more from today.
Clients of Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) will have to pay 7.76 percent more, while West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDCO) will charge its customers 12.94 percent more from today.
Despite the tariff increase, only Desco will make profit among all distributors. WZPDCO will reach the break-even point and DPDC has the potential to overcome Tk 8 crore in losses if it works hard, said Haque of BERC earlier.
BERC officials said the increase in electricity price would help the government save about Tk 1,000 crore in annual subsidies on energy. The country pays a huge amount of money as energy subsidies, contributing to rising inflation and higher bank borrowing.
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