How long to get LPG at a fair price!
Photo: Collected
Today, Sunday at 2:30 PM, BERC is in the 30th month of announcing the price of LP gas. But consumers are still complaining about getting LP gas at a fixed price.
At first it was said that the matter is completely new, it will take some time to adapt. In due course of time the receipt of fixed rate will be assured. Now at least consumers can say why you are taking so much fixed price. The question of consumers is that it has been two and a half years, how many more years to wait to get LP gas at the fixed rate.
Last August, the price of a 12 kg cylinder was announced at Tk. 1,140. Helal Uddin of Bhatara area of the capital told Barta24.com that on August 31, he had to buy it for Tk. 1,500. That is, Tk. 240 excess per cylinder has been taken from that consumer. On the other hand, a consumer from Rajshahi said that he bought it from Zahirul Islam's shop in Assam Colony for Tk. 1,400. The interesting thing is that these shopkeepers are reluctant to give any kind of receipt. Their statement is that if you take it, you don't take it. And the opportunity to do anything without receipt from BERC or consumer department is very less.
BERC announced the first LP gas price on April 12, 2021 following a writ by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB). Then a total commission of Tk. 359.40 per 12 kg cylinder was fixed for LPG importers, dealers and retailers. Loab (LPG Importers' Association) raised objections to the commission on the day of the price announcement. Since then, Loab's conflict with BERC began. They put pressure on BERC in various ways by boycotting monthly rate announcements. Loab president Azam J Chowdhury even threatened to stop the import of LPG. BERC was forced to raise it from Tk. 359 to Tk. 441 on October 10 after 7 months. That is, the commission has been increased to 81.6 taka for 12 kg cylinders. The dealer and retailer commissions have been increased to Tk. 34 and Tk. 38 respectively. As the product is almost 98 percent dependent on imports. For that reason, the price announced by the Saudi state company Aramco is taken as the monthly base price. If the price of Saudi goes up and down, the price of LPG will go up and down. Other commissions and costs of the importer will remain unchanged. According to the instructions of the commission, the rate has been announced every month.
The way Loab reneged on its promise-
They had no objection to the minus one (previous month) formula when the international market rate was lower at the time of first rate announcement. The minus one formula is decided on the basis of bilateral negotiations as imported gas takes 15 to 20 days to reach the system. That is, according to the price of the previous month, the price of gas continued to be determined in the next month. A few months later, when the market started to rise, LPG importers' association Loab sat on the sidelines. They started saying, Minus One is suffering from the formula, pricing should be done according to the current month's rates. BERC hikes prices before announcing rates. BERC kept their word and canceled Minus One. Now BERC is announcing rates by 4th of every month based on the Aramco declared rate on the 1st of every month.
Loab has been claiming that the shipping charges to bring them from abroad were not properly accounted for. In response, BERC asked them to submit their commercial invoices, but many refrained from submitting them. Those bringing LPG in small vessels submit several invoices. Loab has always claimed that their transportation costs are between 110 dollar and 130 dollar per ton. An invoice collected by TK Group from Monglabandar at the time Loab made this claim showed a shipping fee of only 65 dollar per ton. Even though BERC knew about this, under pressure, the transport cost was reduced to 95 dollars. However, their April order called for reduced ship fares. If necessary, a few people should be grouped together and imported in big ships like West Bengal to reduce the ship fare.
Cab senior vice president energy expert Prof. Shamsul Alam told Barta24.com that out of 28 companies, only 12 companies submitted invoices in the public hearing. There is no legal basis for finalizing the bids by averaging those bids. We have shown in the public hearing, West Bengal is importing at 20 dollars, it cannot be 120 dollars in Bangladesh at the same distance. We asked to collect and verify the commercial invoice from the port authority. BERC committed injustice by finalizing the rate of 95 dollars without doing so.
As usual, BERC has been announcing the price of LP gas every month. And almost every month the journalists have the same question; BERC is not meeting the fixed rate of gas. BERC's statement is almost the same. I will not claim that the rate has been fully implemented. Many places are selling at fixed prices.
Last month, the BERC chairman said, "We are going on an expedition ourselves." Apart from this, the consumer department and deputy commissioners are being asked to monitor the price by writing a letter. Action must be taken on specific consumer complaints.
Initially, BERC was only focused on retailers. After the current chairman Nurul Amin joined the commission, this is the first time he has looked at the LPG Company. It has already hurt United LPG Limited and Total Gas by selling at higher prices. BERC is on the way to canceling their license.
