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Irrational Electricity Bills

Old billing system to return

Power tariff hike likely in mid-August

Sharier Khan
The power distributors are persuading Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (Berc) to increase bulk and retail electricity tariff by 30 to 35 percent by mid-August to cover their losses.
But as the recent hikes have already made consumers aggrieved due to change of a billing slab in March, the government is working on restoring the old common lowest
slab with some modifications so that the public do not feel the pinch.
Following the change of slab in March, a consumer pays Tk 3.05 for per kilowatt (or a unit) of power if the total monthly usage is below 100 units. In the second slab ranging from 100 to 399 units, a consumer pays Tk 4.29 per unit. A user consuming 400 units and above pays Tk 7.89 per unit. And this rate will be applicable to the total amount of power a user consumes.
This means if a consumer has used just 400 units, his entire billing will be calculated under the fourth slab. This simply means Tk 1,440 additional charge for using power under the lower slabs which have already been paid for. But before March, the consumers paid for electricity incrementally for different slabs.
The Power Development Board itself found out that following the FROM PAGE 1
slab change, on an average, people are paying 111 percent more than their previous bills, although the tariff was not hiked by that proportion.
"This has simply affected my family budget and it is scary,” says Fahim Shamsher of Uttara. "My usual Tk 2,200-2,400 summer electricity bill has suddenly shot up to around Tk 5,000. My neighbour last month spent around Tk 7,500. I cannot believe anyone's domestic electricity bill can be so high.”
Lalmatia resident Noor Ahmed says, "On an average, I used to pay around Tk 1,300-1,400 a month. From April, the bill shot up close to Tk 4,000. This is too much. I cannot imagine how I would handle one more tariff hike.”
Dhanmondi resident Shahdat Hossain runs two air conditioners at his flat, and he used to pay around Tk 3,500 to Tk 4,000 a month for electricity during summer. This time when his bills sky rocketed beyond Tk 8,000, he asked his family members to sleep in one room so that they don't have to run both the ACs.
"I can endorse power tariff increase if it becomes necessary given the high cost of generation,” Shahdat says. “But I oppose paying
irrationally high tariff, which I believe is the case now.”
Asked, a PDB official who is working with the Berc over a fresh hike said, "The tariff change decision in March was taken rather unprofes-sionally and bureaucratically.
"We are now working on restoring the previous system with a more organised slab system. The honest customers should not be punished. We believe that if such a system continues, it will encourage users to turn to unscrupulous means to reduce billing with the help of meter readers."
He added, "We believe people will be able to pay enhanced power tariff if we revise the slab system again.”
This increase is important for the PDB, and the power distribution companies because of an increased reliance on oil-based power generation that added extra cost.
At a recent public programme, prime minister's energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi also said the government was working on restoring the lowest common slab in the billing system.
Since last month, the PDB has gone for maximum power generation to keep load shedding as low as possible, and on some days to keep it at zero level. In
recent weeks, the PDB one day generated a record 6,169 megawatt power. On other days, it generates around 6000 MW.
Yet, just three years back, the country at best produced 3,800 MW and six years back in 2006, just 3,300 MW. In between, there was little addition mainly due to lack of initiative and also because of growing gas crisis. Gas has been the main fuel for power generation in the country for decades.
Amid gas crisis, the government opted for imported fuel-based rental power plants for three to five years, which are quick to install. Meanwhile, it went for long term coal-based and some gas- based plants which take longer time to install.
Because of these rental power plants, the average cost of electricity generation has now doubled. "We are spending around Tk 30 crore for fuel purchase daily,” notes a top PDB official.
"Presently we are generating maximum power by running all the rental plants,” he adds. “The gasbased plants together with 180 MW from Kaptai Hydropower plant and 160 MW from Barapukuria coal-fired plant are generating up to 4,000 MW power. The remaining is coming from the oil-based plants.”
The official added, “If the price of electricity is not increased, the power sector will incur a net loss of Tk 10,000 crore to 12,000 crore during this fiscal year. But if the tariff is increased, together with the government subsidy of Tk 6,000 crore, we can prevent ourselves from bleeding to death.”