Bangladesh:Big hike in gas prices for power plants, industry

Bangladesh has announced a massive increase in the prices of gas supplied to industry and power plants in order to cut down on subsidies.. However, the price of gas for households, CNG run vehicles, fertiliser factories and tea industry will remain unchanged. The new prices will be effective from next month. According to the government announcement, the price of gas supplied to govt, Independent Power Producers (IPP) and rental plants will be raised from 5.02 Taka per cubic metre to 14.00 Taka per cubic metre marking an increase of over 178 percent. For the captive power plant the gas price has been raised from 16 Taka per cubic metre to 30 Taka which is about 87.5 percent increase.
The price rise for gas supply to industries also ranges from over 150 percent to 178 percent. The gas price for large industries has been raised from 11.98 Taka per cubic metre to 30 Taka, for medium industries from 11.78 Taka per cubic metre to 30 Taka, and for small, cottage and other industries from 10.78 Taka per cubic metre to 30 taka per cubic metre. The price for commercial gas supply to hotels and restaurants has been raised from 26.64 Taka per cubic metre to 30.50 Taka. Earlier, last week, the government raised the electricity price by 5 percent.

The Ministry of power, energy and mineral resources clarified that the price rise was necessitated owing to the volatile energy prices across the globe caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. The Ministry said that the import cost of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) has increased abnormally in the world market. Government has to stop the spot purchase of LNG since July last year and gas rationing has been done in all sectors including  power and industry to balance the supply and demand of gas.