A nexus of politicians and businesspeople has been taking advantage of the "indemnity act" in the power sector and increasing the energy supply cost, which is ultimately borne by the public, said speakers at a discussion yesterday.

Since the government took charge of setting energy prices by themselves, the prices have been increasing irrationally, they also said.

Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) organised the citizens' discussion on their proposed Energy Transition Policy 2024 at the capital's CIRDAP auditorium.

The Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 is commonly known as the indemnity act, as it doesn't require any tender process to allow any company to build power plants, or establish transmission or distribution facilities.

Besides, no officer or employee shall be subject to a suit, prosecution, or other legal procedure for anything done under this act.

The government initially passed the act for two years in 2010 which was later extended several times.

CAB President Ghulam Rahman said it seems like there is a nexus between businesspeople and politicians, which has not been working for public interest.

If the government wants to provide electricity at reasonable prices, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) should be strengthened for transparency, accountability and equality, he said.

In the keynote paper, Prof M Shamsul Alam, energy adviser to CAB, said since the government bypassed BERC to set the energy prices by themselves, energy supply costs and prices have been increasing irrationally and illogically.

"The monopoly of the government has been enhancing the scope of corruption. When the private sector gets involved in the market, they also don't face any competition, as they get permissions with the help of illegal transactions and collusion," he said.

In January 2023, the government amended the BERC Act and curtailed the commission's power to set tariffs on electricity and other energies to set them by themselves.

Since then, the electricity and fuel prices have been hiked several times.

"Earlier, BERC set prices after public hearings and let people know the rationale for hiking the prices. But now, there is no transparency, accountability, or clarity in this sector," said Prof MM Akash, former chairman of Economics department at Dhaka University.

"The prime minister announced an all-out drive against corruption. The first step of the drive should be cancelling the indemnity act, which created the opportunity for corruption in this sector," he added.

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua said the amendment of the BERC Act is contrary to the spirit of the main act.

Former Buet Professor Ijaz Hossain said, "It is absurd that we produce electricity from high-priced diesel or furnace oil during the daytime when we could use solar energy instead."

"We should focus on only exploring gas reserves until we confirm that there is no more gas left. But the government always neglects the process. They always depend on either private or foreign investments," he added.