The country's energy regulator is set to announce a fresh hike in natural gas tariff in September to foot the import bills of 'expensive' LNG, said officials.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) is now at the final stage of its scrutiny after holding public hearings over the tariff hike proposals of state-run gas transmission, marketing and distribution companies in June, a senior commission official said.
Chattogram consumers have been getting re-gasified imported LNG (liquefied natural gas) since Saturday (August 18) after more than eight years of the move to import LNG by the government.
Existing and new consumers of Chattogram are now receiving around 75-100 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of re-gasified LNG, a senior Petrobangla official said.
The quantity of re-gasified LNG would gradually be increased to around 300 mmcfd by late September with the increase of pressure in the pipeline network, he said.
The supply of re-gasified LNG to consumers would increase to around 500 mmcfd after the completion of an under-construction Anowara-Fouzdarhat pipeline.
The government had initiated the move to import LNG in November 2010, when state-run Petrobangla floated a construction tender for a floating LNG terminal.
The LNG import terminal project was brought to a fast-track route for the implementation on a priority basis, to ease the country's energy crisis and accelerate economic growth in January 2014.
The BERC has planned to fix a new gas tariff considering blend of the imported LNG with locally produced gas, BERC officials said.
Petrobangla has argued that the blended gas price will be Tk 9.69 per cubic metre (cubic metre) after importing around 500 mmcfd of LNG at US$ 8.5 per cubic metre from the international market.
The blended gas price will be Tk 10.91 per cubic metre after importing around 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of LNG at US$ 10.76 per cm from the international market.
The BERC held public hearings from June 11 on the gas tariff hike proposals from the state-run gas companies, which sought almost doubling the rate for consumers except households.
Bangladesh received its first LNG cargo on April 24 as the US-based Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Ltd brought in its floating, storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) carrying 136,009 cubic metres of lean LNG from Qatar's RasGas.
The BERC had earlier raised the natural gas tariff by 22.70 per cent for all types of consumers in phases with effect from March 1, 2017 and June 1, 2017 respectively.
Fresh hikes in natural gas tariff might come in phases with the increase in imports of LNG in the country, according to people familiar with the situation.
Gas distribution companies including Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd (TGTDCL), Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Ltd (BGDCL), Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd (JGTDCL), and Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd (KGDCL) in their unified proposals sought the average natural gas tariff to be raised to Tk 12.95 per cubic metre from the existing Tk 7.39.
They wanted to raise tariff for gas-fired power plants to Tk 10 per cubic metre from the existing Tk 3.16, for fertiliser factories to Tk 12.80 per cubic metre from the existing Tk 2.17.
The price of compressed natural gas (CNG) in the filling stations has been proposed to be hiked to Tk 48 per cubic metre from the existing Tk 40.
For the industrial sector, natural gas tariff as sought by the distributors is Tk 15 per cubic metre in place of the existing Tk 7.76.
For gas-fired captive power plants, the tariff as sought is to hit Tk 16 per cubic metre from the existing Tk 9.62.
Gas tariff for tea gardens has been proposed to be fixed at Tk 12.80 per cu m from the existing Tk 7.42.
But different rights groups, including the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) protested the tariff hike move and stressed checking gas theft.
Any increase in tariff will be burdensome to commoners, they argued.
State minister for power and energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid in a press briefing a couple of weeks ago, however, said new gas tariff would be rational and within the comfort zone of consumers.
Azizjst@yahoo.com