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BERC's public hearing on power price hike begins

Rights groups, parties oppose bids


| Updated: November 29, 2019 17:25:15


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Rights groups and political parties strongly protested on Thursday electricity tariff hike proposals and criticised installation of 'more than required' expensive oil-fired power plants.

They also opposed continuation of the special law, enacted in 2010 for rapid development of the country's power and energy sector.

Their protest came on the opening day of a four-day public hearing on electricity tariff hike proposals for almost all categories of consumers at TCB auditorium in the city.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) arranged the public hearing after accepting the proposals in initial scrutiny.

Leading opposition political party - Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) - took part in the hearing for the first time, where Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) and different left-leaning political parties also joined.

"Are we in coma?" asked BNP's joint secretary general Moazzem Hossain Alal, while talking about continuation of rental and quick rental power plants in the country.

Such power plants were needed when there was dearth of electricity generation capacity in the country, he said.

Mr Alal also alleged that a section of businessmen, having linkage with the government, are getting a huge amount of money as 'capacity charge', keeping the oil-fired power plants idle.

The amount of 'capacity charge' reached above Tk 150 billion annually, he added.

CAB energy adviser Professor M Shamsul Alam was critical over the abrupt rise in fiscal or subsidy requirement of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) from Tk 40 billion in 2017 to Tk 800 billion in 2018.

He enquired about the electricity generation growth in 2018 and the contribution of oil-fired power plants in increasing the country's overall electricity generation.

Meanwhile, the BERC Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) recommended on Thursday retirement of three old power plants, having the total de-rated electricity generation capacity of 130 megawatts (MW) against their aggregated installed capacity of 194 MW.

All these power plants are over 35 years old, and they are still in operation at below 25 per cent plant factor.

The committee was also disappointed over not carrying out the BERC's order for shutting four expensive diesel-fired power plants, having the total generation capacity of 140 MW.

The BERC in its December 2017 order had instructed the BPDB to shut these power plants by June 2018.

The BERC TEC also suggested the BPDB to refrain from installing new oil-fired power plants in future.

The public hearing over the BPDB's bulk electricity tariff hike proposal and grid operator's transmission charge was held on Thursday.

In its proposal, the BPDB said it would incur a revenue shortfall of Tk 86.08 billion (8,608 crore) in this fiscal year, 2019-20, unless electricity prices are raised.

It will require around Tk 452.08 billion to purchase electricity from the power plants while producing power from its own plants.

Currently, the bulk tariff is Tk 4.87 per unit (1 kilowatt/hour). The BPDB will get around Tk 366 billion by selling electricity to bulk consumers at the existing rate, it said.

The entity, in its proposal, argued that the latest hike in natural gas tariff pushed up electricity generation cost of the gas-fired power plants by around 41 per cent.

The state-run companies this time have not sought any fixed rate of retail tariff, but sought the BERC's decree regarding the bulk tariff rate increase.

The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd (PGCB) sought hike of electricity transmission charge by 50.77 per cent from Tk 0.27 per unit to Tk 0.42.

Hearing on the retail tariff hike proposals of the Board and the Northern Electricity Supply Company Ltd will be held on December 1.

Hearing on the retail tariff hike proposals of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) and the Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) will be held on December 2.

Hearing on the tariff hike proposals of the West-Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC) and the Rural Electrification Board (REB) will be held on December 3.

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