No Unreasonable Cost To Be Considered For Fixing Tariff

The BERC Act embodies everything to create a fair ambiance of competition for all parties and protect the rights of the consumers.

- Jalal Ahmed

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) could not yet formulate all rules and procedures for enforcement and compliance. Actions have been launched now for doing these. It is expected that BERC will soon be able to determine prices of all primary fuel fairly and transparently. BERC will also conduct a mobile court to ensure compliance. No unreasonable expenditure will be considered while fixing the prices. The profit margin will be determined based on equity and justice.

Jalal Ahmed, newly appointed Chairman, BERC said this in an exclusive interview with Mollah Amzad Hossain, Editor of Energy & Power.

BERC has already passed 20 years of its existence. How much could it justify its creation during this period?

It achieved partial success. BERC started operation in 2004 though the BERC Act was passed in the parliament in 2003. It started making small steps later during the tenure of former secretary Golam Rahman as Chairman of BERC. It started developing into a competent institution through its actions for determining prices of electricity, LPG, and Natural Gas. It started developing consumers’ confidence by determining tariffs and prices through public hearings. However, its journey towards a functional authority was severely impacted by the actions of the previous government that amended the BERC act to curtail its sole authority of determining prices. The interim government has already reinstated the authority of BERC by rescinding the amendment of the BERC Act. At the same time, BERC has been given the authority to fix the price of furnace oil and jet fuel. We hope that alongside protecting the rights of the consumers and ensuring transparency in determining fairly the power tariff and fuel prices, the BERC would work for a healthy competitive ambiance for investment in the energy sector.