The stakeholders concerned submitted on Thursday proposals suggesting varied prices at a meeting which was convened as part of an exercise to fix the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for the domestic market.
The consumers' group demanded the supply of quality LPG at an affordable price and the left-leaning political leaders wanted to see a cut in the existing price, but the LPG operators demanded a further hike in the rate.
The stakeholders were wide apart from each other over fixing the price of the cooking fuel during a public hearing on Thursday.
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) arranged the meeting at BIAM auditorium in the city, following the court's instruction. BERC chairman Md Abdul Jalil presided over the hearing where other BERC members, leaders and executives of LPG operators and other stakeholders concerned took part.
The private operators and their association, LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh (LOAB), proposed much higher prices for the gas than the current market price.
The lone state-run operator, LP Gas Ltd., wished to go back to its previous rate of Tk 700 for a 12.5 kg cylinder - a level from which it had earlier cut the rate to the existing rate of Tk 600 only.
The Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) of the BERC, however, recommended moderate rates.
"We will announce the decision on the new LPG prices after scrutinising different proposals of the stakeholders," the BERC chairman told the meeting, inviting written proposals, if any, by January 21 to help take the decision.
Taking part in the hearing, energy adviser of the Consumers' Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Professor M Shamsul Alam demanded scrapping the 'LP Gas Operational Licencing Policy 2017' constituted by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
Mr. Alam demanded immediate publication of a gazette based on the proposed policy prepared by the BERC in 2012 on fixing the prices of petroleum products, which, he said, had been shelved by the EMRD for long.
He termed the price hike proposals and the TEC recommendation a conspiracy and said the move to fix the LPG price every month was 'contradictory' to the recently amended BERC rule to adjust the energy price more than once a year.
The operators must have to provide all sorts of evidence against their proposals to the commission and other necessary bodies before considering the new price of LPG, he said.
Top officials from Petromax LPG Ltd, Omera Petroleum Ltd, Beximco LPG Ltd, Bashundhara LPG, Promita LPG, Universal Gas & Gas Cylinder Ltd, LP Gas Ltd and representatives of the LOAB took part in the hearing.
Currently, state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, or BPC, fixes and announces retail level LPG price for its product occasionally, while the private sector's retail price is fixed by the operators without any public announcement.
The BPC had reduced its retail level LPG price by around 14 per cent to Tk 600 per 12.5 kg cylinder in July this year from Tk 700 previously. However, the consumers hardly get the BPC's LPG at the government-fixed price.
To trim the price of LPG in the domestic market, a BERC committee suggested a couple of months back a subsidy of 25 per cent on the import price of LPG to the operators to keep the cost within the reach of the commoners.
It also recommended fixing a unified local LPG price, which it said would be fixed through public hearing like that of the natural gas and electricity at the retail level.
The commission said a portion of the LPG price should be variable in line with the changes in international market price and the costs of LPG after its entry through the country's ports and reaching the end-users. It should fix the price from time to time through a public hearing.
It would ensure a unified LPG price at the retail level and reduce sufferings of the commoners, the commission opined.
The BERC committee also recommended import of LPG through bulk cargoes having a capacity of around 20,000 tonnes or above instead of small cargoes.
Inflated transportation cost was the main barrier to lowering the LPG price in the local market, the BERC report stated.
Currently, the private sector imports LPG through small cargoes having the capacity of around 2,500-5,000 tonnes.
The price of LPG in West Bengal of India is cheaper by around US$60 per tonne compared to Bangladesh only due to the cost difference of transportation, it noted.
India imports LPG through bulk carriers, but Bangladesh imports the fuel through small carriers.
The BERC committee also suggested that the operators should have the responsibility to reach the LPG cylinders to end-users to check its pilferage, use of substandard cylinders by the middlemen or brokers and ultimately check accidents.
The LPG consumption in Bangladesh has already reached around 1.0 million tonnes per year the TEC informed the meeting, adding that 29 LPG operators are active in the domestic market.
azizjst@yahoo.com