The government has announced a 5% hike in the price of electricity at the retail level.
The new price will come into effect in March, the Power Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said in a notification on Tuesday.
This marks the third time the price of power has been increased in the first two months of this year.
The price was last increased by 5% on January 31 and another 5% on January 12 before that.
According to the latest order, the retail tariff was raised at different levels of consumers. The tariff was raised for lower-level consumers by an average of 5% to Tk4.35 from Tk4.14 (per kilowatt hour) per unit. The bulk tariff was not raised this time, reports UNB.
The weighted average price of electricity per unit at the consumer level will be Tk8.24, up from Tk7.85 in February. In January it was Tk7.48.
According to the notification, the price of electricity for lifeline customers using zero to 50 units has increased by Tk4.14 to Tk4.35 per unit; zero to 75 units from Tk4.62 to Tk4.85; 76 to 200 units from Tk6.31 to Tk6.33.
The price for those who use 201 to 300 units has increased from Tk6.62 to TK6.95; 301 to 400 units from Tk6.99 to Tk7.34; 401 to 600 units from TK10.96 to Tk11.51.
Meanwhile, the price for residential customers using more than 600 units of electricity has increased from Tk12.63 to Tk13.26.
On November 21, the bulk power tariff was hiked by 20% to Tk6.20 per kilowatt hour by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) with effect from December 1.
The government recently amended the BERC Act, empowering the Power Division to raise power, gas and petroleum fuel prices through administrative power anytime it wants.
Meanwhile, energy experts believe the tariff enhancement decision came in compliance with the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which recently approved a $4.5 billion loan to Bangladesh.