Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will begin a three-day public hearing Tuesday on the proposals submitted by five state-owned electricity distribution companies to raise retail power tariff. The hearing will take place at the BERC meeting room on March 4 to 6, everyday in the morning till afternoon.
But this is the first time the energy regulator will not be holding any ‘open meeting’ as defined in its rules prior to holding the ‘public hearing’, which drew flaks from the consumer rights groups.Earlier, last week, the five state-owned electricity distribution companies submitted their respective proposals as per a decision of the government to hike retail power tariff by 8.59 to 23.50 percent per unit (each kilowatt-hour).
As per the proposals, the Rural Electrification Board (REB) sought 12.58 per cent rise in its existing tariff; West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited for 8.59 per cent hike; Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) 15.90 per cent; Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) 23.50 per cent; and Power Development Board (PDB) proposed a 15.50 per cent hike.
They also urged the BERC to make the proposed increased power tariff effective from March 1.
The hearing on proposals of the PDB and the West Zone Company will be held on March 4 (Tuesday), while the proposals of DPDC and DESCO will be heard on Mar 5 (Wednesday), and on REB proposals on Mar 6 (Thursday).
The power distribution companies have been incurring huge loss for the government’s purchase of electricity from the high cost rental and quick rental power plants. Officials said this has prompted them to move for making their fresh appeals to raise the electricity tariff at the retail level.
Recently, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also defended the government’s move to raise electricity tariff saying that the power production cost has gone up to meet the public demand.
The BERC last increased the retail price of electricity by 15 percent from Tk 5 to Tk 5.75 per unit on September 20, 2012.
Meanwhile, consumer rights groups has protested the regulator’s move to directly hold the public hearing without any ‘open meeting’ prescribed in the BERC rules.
They alleged that the regulator has violated the law by fixing the date of a public hearing on retail electricity tariff proposal, without holding an open meeting.
Professor Shamsul Alam, adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said that avoiding the open meeting would be a violation of the BERC law. “It is a serious breach of the BERC law.”
However, BERC chairman AR Khan said the open meeting has been skipped to save time.
In the past, once BERC received any proposal on power tariff hike, it invited an open meeting of the stakeholders to discuss the merit or necessity of the proposal and then set a date for public hearing to facilitate a full-fledged discussion. – UNB
