The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission has, in a surprise decision, decided to keep bulk power prices unchanged despite a recent proposal to hike the tariff by 58 per cent, bdnews24.com reports.
The decision was announced at a virtual press conference at 11:30 am on Thursday.
In May, the technical committee of BERC recommended hiking the bulk power tariff by 58 per cent to cut subsidies, a proposal the associations of consumers and businesses fiercely opposed.
Bangladesh Power Development Board recently proposed increasing the price further, from the current Tk 5.17 per unit to Tk 8.56 per unit to rid itself of subsidy.
After a public hearing on the proposal, the BERC technical committee recommended hiking the price to Tk 8.16 per unit.
The government reintroduced rolling blackouts in July following a gas shortage fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine war. It also raised gas and fuel oil prices to save the depleted foreign currency reserves. The power crisis has worsened recently after a national grid failure.
