Energy experts and stakeholders urged the interim government to return the authority of deciding power and energy prices to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC).
They said that if such authority is returned to the energy regulator, it will check the tendency of the government entities to frequently raise electricity and gas prices without any proper ground.
"The new interim government should immediately initiate the move to revert the decision of handing the authority to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources to fix the energy and power prices on an arbitrary basis," said Prof SM Shamsul Alam, energy expert and senior vice president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB).
Earlier on December 1, 2022, the government issued an ordinance by amending the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act 2003, allowing the government to adjust the electricity and gas prices without a public hearing.
The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs issued a gazette notification in this regard.
Before issuing the ordinance, BERC had the legal authority to decide fuel prices. BERC used to conduct public hearings with stakeholders before fixing electricity and gas prices.
"Such public hearing was a democratic process to raise any price and that ensures the accountability of the government entities to the public," said BD Rahmatullah, former director general of the Power Cell of the Power Division.
As the new interim government came to power with a strong commitment to end discrimination and undemocratic practices, it should take a move to return the authority of fixing all kinds of energy prices to the BERC, he added.
After the issuance of the ordinance, the government has been raising power and gas prices at a regular interval without any public hearing.
Until this ordinance was issued, before fixing power tariffs or gas prices, the government entities had to submit their respective proposals to the energy regulator and face public hearings to place their argument for their moves.
After thorough scrutiny and long debate in public hearings, the BERC used to make the decisions.
During the public hearing, the stakeholders and consumers could know the updated information on the entities' loss and profits and the grounds for the moves to raise prices.
Prof SM Shamsul Alam said BERC's process for public hearing process ensures the accountability of the entities and learns about their financial conditions before any decision on raising prices.
Farhan Noor, secretary general of Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners Association, said that the BERC should regain the power to fix the energy prices.
"It will help the consumers to understand the actual situation and get the arguments and counterarguments before any move to raise the prices," he said.
