The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) has urged authorities concerned to reduce the existing price of electricity by coordinating bulk and retail prices.
At a press briefing at the Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday, CAB Energy Advisor Dr M Shamsul Alam said: “Around Tk2,000 crore can be saved by producing electricity using gas instead of purchasing gas and electricity from quick rental plants. It will reduce the current price of bulk electricity. The retail price will also come down.”
In a written statement, he elaborated 12-charter demands of the organisation for reducing electricity price.
The demands include not keeping profit margin for distribution companies and to stop giving new gas connections to residential and CNG filling stations until the required gas supply is ensured for electricity production.
In addition, Alam questioned the quality of plants, including Barapukuria Power Plant. He said the plants were established in an unplanned system.
He further criticised the policy of public power sector, which he termed as “no loss, no profit”, and the subsidy being provided to private power plants which had hiked the power prices.
“Earlier in 2012, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) hiked power prices by around 3.75 percent in order to meet the deficit of around Tk725 crore, which was not implemented thereby,” claimed CAB