State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said that if the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) delays to decide on retail power hike proposals, then the Power Division will make its own decision.
He made the remarks while talking to reporters at the sideline of a stakeholders meeting on “Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP)”, organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, at a hotel in the city on Tuesday.
Outgoing Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki also addressed the event.
Read more: BERC now to consult with govt before any move on retail power tariff hike proposals
Responding to a question on the role of 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 said if the BERC takes so much of times in taking decision on price adjustment issue, then the government will take decision on its own. .
He said 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."
The BERC raised about 19.92 percent 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 percent hike in retail power tariff at consumer level.
Read more: Raising retail power tariff: 3 more distribution companies submit proposals
But 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.
Nasrul Hamid said the government has been working to provide electricity at an affordable price.
“But the situation is not in the hands of the government as we have to depend on the global market for primary fuel import”, he added.
He, however, said the government is thinking of considering the petroleum fuel price adjustment in consistency with the global downtrend in energy price.
“We’ve asked the officials to examine whether we could adjust prices every three months keeping in line with the global market,” he added.