Bangladesh Gov’t increases power price by 16 pct at bulk level

BANGLADESH: The Bangladesh government Monday increased electricity tariffs at bulk level by 16 percent on average for distributing agencies, private news agency UNB reported.

The new tariffs, which will come into effect on Oct. 1, 2008, will not affect the retail-level consumers for the time being.

But it is likely to lead to a raise at retail level too soon, the report said. Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Monday approved the power-price hike following an appeal made by the state-owned power-generating authority Power Development Board (PDB).

The raise will only be applicable for the power-distributing agencies who buy electricity from PDB and sell to the consumers in their respective command areas.

After the rise in bulk tariffs, the distributing agencies are now planning to appeal to the BERC for raising their tariffs at the retail level, the report said.

Dhaka, Tuesday, Xinhua