Power tariff hike may increase cost of living

Experts have opined that the increase in the retail tariff of electricity may drive up the production cost and lead to a further spiral in inflation.

Experts have opined that the increase in the retail tariff of electricity may drive up the production cost and lead to a further spiral in inflation. It may increase cost of living, worsening the condition of lower-income groups.
Private service holder Md Moin Uddin said common people are spending their days with huge sufferings due to high prices of products.
Expenditure is increasing several folds more than income increase. In such a situation when people are struggling to reconcile income and expenses. In the meantime, increasing the price of electricity by 5 percent will increase sufferings. An increase in the price of electricity will increase the production cost of various products, resulting in an increase in the prices of products.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Vice-President M Shamsul Alam said the government should take steps to reduce corruptions, if it is possible then we will not need giving subsidy to the energy sector. A hike in electricity tariff will only exacerbate inflation and increase the sufferings of lower-income people, he said.
Executive Director of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling and Professor of the Economics Department of Dhaka University Dr. Salim Raihan said there is no reason now to increase price of electricity, it will only increase cost of living. Rather than hiking price, the government should take some other steps.
The government has increased the electricity price by 5 percent or 19 paisa per unit at the consumers’ level.
The Power, Energy and Mineral Resource Ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard on Thursday.
The retail electricity price has been readjusted under the authority vested in Section 34 (ka) of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Act, 2003, the gazette notification said.
Earlier on January 8, the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) recommended raising the weighted average tariff of electricity by 15.43 percent.