The price of gas for power generation has been increased by 75 paise per cubic meter. Govt conveyed the decision through an executive order and a gazette declaring the price hike has also been published. The executive order has said that the new rate will be implemented from February.
Published on Tuesday (February 27), the gazette said, the gas office for power generation (government and IPP) has been increased from Tk 14 to Tk 14.75 per cubic meter and captive power has been increased from Tk 30 to Tk 30.75.
Earlier, in February 2023, the gas price for power was increased by an average of 82 percent in an executive order. At that time, the maximum increase was 179 percent in the power sector. In that order, the price of gas was also increased from 5 taka 2 paisa to 14 taka in industries and from 16 taka to 30 taka in captives.
Besides, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission increased the gas price in June 2022 through a public hearing. There is a huge debate about increasing the prices in this way by issuing executive orders. Price adjustment through public hearing ensures some level of accountability of the companies. That path is gradually going out of practice and instead government is practicing issuance of executive order more and more.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid was talking about it with reporters at the Secretariat. He said that if 2,000 million cubic feet of gas was supplied daily for power generation, the average cost of power generation would have been reduced by half. Because of that, 75 paisa per cubic feet has been increased in electricity and fertilizer production. This will increase the supply of gas and if the supply of gas increases, the average production cost of electricity will decrease.
In response to a question, the state minister said, we are going to adjust the price of gas and electricity by executive order. Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission took three months. It would have caused a loss of 20 thousand crore yaks in three months.
If customers are energy efficient, their bills will not increase, said the state minister.