Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will hold public hearings from today on proposed hike in gas prices ranging up to 65 percent.
On conclusion of the hearings, the commission will announce its final decision by October 30.
The state-owned Petrobangla has proposed the price hike. Earlier, BERC in an initial hearing had accepted the proposal placed by the Petrobangla subject to eliciting public opinion about the raise.
BERC sources said the hearings may continue for two days as the commission will hear the views of different stakeholders alongside the Petrobangla proposal.
In the proposal, Petrobangla suggested a variable price hike for its different categories of consumers. The average hike will come to 65 percent.
As per the proposal, Petrobangla, for domestic consumers, suggested raising the gas price to Tk 600 from the existing rate of Tk 400 for a double-burner oven while Tk 550 for single-burner oven against the present rate of Tk 350.
The proposal is for a 50 percent raise over the existing rates for domestic gas users.
The metered domestic consumers will have to pay Tk 208 instead of Tk 130 with a price increase of 26.81 percent. Similarly, Petrobangla proposed to increase gas price for commercial users by 26.08 percent, meaning that per-unit (1000 cubic feet or 1 mcf) price will go up to Tk 291.59 from the current price of Tk 233.12.
For the industrial consumers, the proposed per-unit price is Tk 182.25, up from the present rate of Tk 148.13, with a 23.03 percent raise.
The same rate will apply to tea-estates.
For captive power plants, the new rate is proposed to be Tk 182.25 per unit, up from the present rate of Tk 105.59, by a 72.60 percent raise.
The Petrobangla proposed Tk 93.73 per-unit as gas price for the Power Development Board (PDB), independent power producer (IPP) and small power plant (SPP) instead of Tk 73.91, with a 26.81 percent raise.
For fertiliser industries, the new rate is envisaged to be Tk 93.73 instead of Tk 63.41 per unit by a raise of 47.81 percent.
Presenting the price-hike proposal, Petrobangla Chairman Jalal Ahmed said his organisation's cumulative deficit on account of undercut gas supply to international oil companies (IOCs) is about Tk 2000 crore.
"If we don't raise gas prices, Petrobangla will have to go bankrupt shortly, which will ultimately make it unable to go for further exploration," he said to justify the merit of the government move in the interim period.