The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has the authority to fix power and energy prices - including those of diesel and kerosene - under the existing BERC Act 2003, BERC Chairman Md Abdul Jalil told newsmen on Thursday.
But the commission could not fix the petroleum prices, as a policy to fix the petroleum prices is not yet approved by the government, he said.
The BERC Act spells out that the commission would fix the prices of power and energy items in line with a policy approved by the government, the commission chairman elaborated.
The commission prepared the policy and sent it to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) for the government's approval in 2012, which is still pending, he lamented.
The BERC chairman's opinions came during a virtual press conference, organised to announce the newly hiked price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The government on Wednesday raised prices of diesel and kerosene by 23.07 per cent or Tk 15 per litre to Tk 80 per litre from previous Tk 65 per litre with effect from Thursday.
The prices of octane, petrol and furnace oil, however, remained unchanged at Tk 89 per litre, Tk 86 per litre and Tk 53 per litre respectively.
The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) argued that the EMRD and the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) raised the prices of diesel and kerosene unlawfully, violating the BERC Act.
"We will challenge the decision in court, and seek punishment of the EMRD and the BPC officials for disobeying the BERC Act," Dr Shamsul Alam, energy adviser of the CAB, told the FE over phone.
Besides, there is no logic of raising domestic oil prices now, as the BPC attained profit of over Tk 400 billion over the past several years - when domestic oil prices were higher than international oil prices, he noted.
Mr Alam was also critical over raising the petroleum prices at the time when the prices were slashed in neighbouring India.
