The Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh on Saturday warned the power and energy ministry of filing a case against it for continuing with increasing the fuel and power prices and interfering in the activities of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission.
The CAB at a press conference on the day also demanded withdrawal of the proposals sent by the electricity distribution companies to the BERC for raising the power tariff.
The association which termed the latest fuel price hike by the energy ministry illegal under the BERC Act, however, urged the transport owners not to raise transport fares.
CAB president Kazi Faruk, who chaired the conference, spelled out the demands while CAB adviser M Shamsul Alam read out a written statement. CAB general secretary advocate Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan and association of bus companies president Khandakar Kazi Rafiqul Islam Kazol were also present.
The association also demanded immediate suspension of the government order on the latest fuel price hike and sending the proposal for raising fuel prices to the BERC for review.
Earlier, power distribution companies, including Power Development Board, Rural Electrification Board, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited, Dhaka Electric Supply Company, and West Zone Power Development Company sent proposals to the BERC for increasing the current power tariff.
A CAB report sent this month to the BERC on the proposals points out that the DESCO and the REB suffer from no financial deficit, the PDB enjoys a revenue surplus as it uses gas to generate power, the WZPDCO bears an extra-cost for its inflated manpower which should be sized down, and the DPDC controls a 132KV transformation line without licence the income from which should be included in its revenues, and therefore, the situation does not demand any increase in the power tariff.
Khandakar Kazi Rafiqul Islam Kazol urged the city’s bus-owners not to increase the bus fares as the government raised the price of diesel but not of CNG. He also warned that if the government went for another CNG price hike, the CNG stations would go for a countrywide shutdown.