Power distribution companies on Thursday proposed revisions to retail electricity tariffs before the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), with estimated distribution costs ranging from Tk 0.85 to Tk 2.05 per unit for the 2025–26 fiscal year.
The proposals were placed on the final day of a two-day public hearing at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh auditorium in Dhaka, chaired by BERC Chairman Jalal Ahmed.
The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC), Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO), West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDCL), and Northern Electricity Supply Company (NESCO)
submitted separate proposals for retail tariff revisions.
According to the submissions, BPDB proposed a distribution cost of Tk 0.85 per unit, BREB Tk 1.77, DPDC Tk 1.54, DESCO Tk 1.98, WZPDCL Tk 1.39, and NESCO Tk 2.05 per unit.
However, BERC’s technical evaluation committee recommended lower cost estimates, saying the weighted average net distribution cost of the six utilities would be Tk 1.25 per unit.
The committee estimated BPDB’s net distribution cost at Tk 0.75 per unit, BREB’s at Tk 1.39, DPDC’s at Tk 1.18, DESCO’s at Tk 1.16, WZPDCL’s at Tk 1.33, and NESCO’s at Tk 1.43.
It said the combined net distribution cost for FY2025–26 would stand at Tk 11,927 crore against projected electricity sales of 95,613 million units.
According to the committee, the six utilities together served more than 49.8 million consumers as of March 2026, including over 42.5 million residential users and nearly 28 million lifeline consumers.
BREB alone accounted for more than 39.1 million customers.
The technical committee also made several recommendations, including conducting an independent regulatory impact assessment before reducing the approved load limit for low-tension consumers from 80 kilowatts to 50 kilowatts.
It further recommended that private educational institutions, hospitals and medical colleges should not be categorised as commercial consumers for tariff purposes.
The committee also advised utilities not to determine excess load for non-demand meter consumers solely based on electricity consumption patterns, suggesting periodic load measurements and gradual introduction of demand meters instead.
In addition, it proposed consideration of a flat residential tariff for slum-area consumers and measures to prevent commercial charging of auto-rickshaws through residential electricity connections.
During the hearing, consumer rights activists, academics and business representatives strongly opposed any fresh increase in electricity prices, blaming inefficiency, system losses, inflated project costs and capacity payments for the sector’s financial burden.
Daffodil International University teacher Syed Mizanur Rahman criticised the inclusion of rate of return and corporate taxes in electricity pricing, saying monopoly public services should operate on
a cost-to-cost basis instead of a profit-oriented model.
Former Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince called for reducing electricity prices instead of increasing them and proposed free electricity for poor consumers using up to 75 units monthly.
Speakers also urged the government to reassess contracts with independent power producers and rental power plants, citing excessive capacity charges as a major burden.
At the end of the hearing, BERC Chairman Jalal Ahmed said all opinions and documents submitted during the hearing would be reviewed before a final decision is taken.
He invited stakeholders to submit further written observations by May 23.
He also warned that future power, gas and oil sector projects involving financial liabilities must obtain BERC’s opinion before being sent to the Planning Commission, adding that rising capacity payments had become “harmful for the nation.”