The government has not proposed increasing the price of electricity, but would like it adjusted to meet the cost of imported fuels used to generate power, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said yesterday.
“The government is giving financial support, but not subsidy for the power sector. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission will take the decision on increasing the price of electricity,” Nasrul said while talking to energy reporters at the National Press Club yesterday.
The state minister said due to scarcity of primary fuels like natural gas, the country had to depend on imported oil or coal to produce electricity.
“So, we have to spend extra money for that. As a result, the electricity bill will slightly increase,” Nasrul said.
The five state-owned electricity distribution companies have recently proposed to increase retail power tariffs by 8.59% to 23.50% per unit (each kilowatt-hour).
Nasrul said in neighbouring India, the rate of electricity was 4.4 rupees (Tk5.6), which is higher than our average tariff.
Admitting that the country’s natural gas reserves were depleting fast, the state minister said, “We are trying to explore new gas fields and strengthen Bapex (the state-run petroleum exploration and production company).”
Nasrul said state-owned Petrobangla had started producing fuel oil on a limited scale, and hoped that Bangladesh would become an oil-producing country in the future.
“Petrobangla is going to explore for oil in one field, but the transportation of this fuel needs proper planning,” he said.
“The government will build coal-fired power plants, which will bring new dimension to the sector. The projects will cost $3bn, but the country will earn $9bn,” he added.
The state minister also said old power stations, like the 210-megawatt Ghorashal plant, would be modified to consume less gas and produce more power.
The World Bank has already agreed to fund a PDB (Power Development Board) project to renovate unit 4 of the Ghorashal power plant.
Nasrul further said he would work to eradicate bribery and corruption from the power sector, especially when it comes to giving new electricity connections.
Meanwhile, the state minister said Bangladesh was interested in joining the $7.5bn Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, which enjoys the backing of the United States and the Asian Development Bank.
The TAPI project is geopolitically significant, but still has some challenges to be worked out, experts say. A gas pipeline framework agreement, signed by representatives of the four nations in April 2008 in Islamabad, had envisaged construction to start in 2010, supplying gas by 2015.
Nasrul also claimed that: “During the tenure of the BNP-led alliance, the country was supposed to connect with a Myanmar gas line, but the then government failed to do that.”
Power Secretary Monwar Islam, power cell director general Mohammad Hossai and PDB chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla also addressed the “meet the press” programme, organised by the Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh.