Bangladesh hikes retail electricity price by 17%

Rates now range from Tk 5.32 to Tk 17.35 per unit across usage slabs

A new notice from the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has raised the prices of electricity at the wholesale, transmission and retail levels.

The weighted average price of wholesale electricity has been increased from Tk 7 to Tk 8.31, a Tk 1.31 raise. This means the wholesale price has jumped by 18.71 percent.

The transmission price rate, or wheeling charge, has been increased from Tk 0.3135 to Tk 0.3886 per unit, an increase of Tk 0.0751, or 23.95 percent.

At the retail level, the weighted average price of electricity for various consumer categories has been increased from Tk 9.11 to Tk 10.63, an increase of Tk 1.52 per unit, or 16.68 percent.

According to the new retail price rate, the lifeline price of residential customers (0 to 50) units has been increased to Tk 5.32.

In the first phase, the price for residential customers (from 0 to 75 units) is Tk 6.18 per unit, in the second phase (76 to 200 units) is Tk 8.50, in the third phase (201 to 300 units) it is Tk 9.10, in the fourth phase (301 to 400) it is Tk 9.62, in the fifth phase (401 to 600 units) it is Tk 15.01 and in the sixth phase (over 600 units) it is Tk 17.35.

The price per unit for low pressure pumps used in irrigation and agriculture has been fixed at Tk 6.04.

For commercial and office customers, the flat rate for low pressure units has been fixed at Tk 15.36, off-peak at Tk 13.82 and peak at Tk 18.43.

The existing demand charges for all customer categories will remain unchanged. The new prices will be effective from the June bill.