The state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will incur an annual loss of Tk 30,251.8 crore if the bulk power tariff is not raised. Such a claim was made in a proposal placed by the BPDB to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), appealing to raise the bulk power tariff in order to offset its loss. Responding to the appeal, the energy regulator decided to hold a public hearing on May 18 as per the BERC Act 2003.  In the proposal, the BPDB also claimed that it will require approximately Tk 74,189 crore to generate 88,993 million units of electricity in the calendar year 2022. “The bulk power tariff needs to be readjusted considering the possible hike in gas tariff. The BPDB is expecting an income of Tk 43,937.2 crore. So, the gap between income and expenditure will be Tk 30,251.8 crore," said the BPDB in the proposal. It attributed blamed increasing fuel costs and other soaring expenses for its losses, saying that the production cost of electricity has gone up to Tk 4.24 per unit in 2022 from Tk 2.13 in the fiscal year 2019-20. The state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board moved the proposal a few months back urging the energy regulator to set the bulk power tariff at Tk8.58 instead of the existing Tk 5.17 per kilowatt-hour.