State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Tuesday said the government is thinking of considering the petroleum fuel price adjustment in consistency with the global downtrend in energy prices.
“We’ve asked the officials to examine whether we could adjust prices every three months keeping in line with the global market,” he said while talking to reporters at the sideline of a stakeholders meeting on “Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP)”.
Outgoing Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki also addressed the event, which was organised by the Japan International Cooperation Agency at a hotel in the capital.
Nasrul Hamid said the government has been working to provide electricity at an affordable price, adding, “But the situation is not in the hands of the government as we have to depend on the global market for primary fuel import.”
At the event, the minister also said if the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) delays deciding on retail power hike proposals, then the Power Division will make its own decision.
He made the remark while responding to a question on the role of the energy regulator after the amendment to the BERC Act 2010, which gives the government arbitrary authority to increase the prices of power and energy bypassing the public hearing process.
The state minister also said that normally, BERC will follow its own process to decide on the price adjustment.
“But only in an emergency situation, the government will take the decision,” he added.
The BERC raised about 19.92 per cent bulk power tariff on November 21, with effect from December 1.
Subsequently, six power distribution entities submitted their respective proposals to the BERC, seeing a similar 19.44 per cent hike in retail power tariff at the consumer level.
Within a week, the Cabinet on November 28 approved an amendment to the BERC Ordinance 2022 to empower the government to set fuel tariff on its own under special circumstances without waiting for the commission's public hearing and decision.
