LPG gets costlier by Tk 226 per 12-Kg container

BERC announces new price for private operators’ products

Staff Correspondent: Consumers will have to pay a higher price of Tk 226 to buy a 12-kg container of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from yesterday as the energy regulator has raised the price to Tk 1,259 from the existing Tk 1,033.
In the same ratio, the prices of other quantity containers of LPG will go up while the auto gas will be selling at Tk 58.65 instead of the existing rate of Tk 55.27 per litre.
Announcing the new price order, chairman of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Abdul Jalil said of the enhanced Tk 226, the commission has increased Tk 59 as an overall cost adjustment while the remaining enhancement in the cost was done because of the increased price of Saudi CP.
“Following our public hearing, we’ve reset some of the components in the local value of LPG considering the demands of the private sector operators,” he told reporters while announcing the new price of the fuel at the BERC meeting room yesterday.
Internationally, the Saudi contract price (CP) witnessed a huge hike as each metric ton of LPG was sold at $797 in October while it was $665 in September last, he added.
The other members of the BERC were present on the occasion.
In response to the appeal of the private LPG operators, the BERC held a public hearing on September 13.
In the hearing, the private operators raised a number of demands to reconsider the cost in setting the LPG price in the retail market while the consumer right groups were opposing such demands saying that private operators have been shown some costs in an “inflated way”.
The BERC chairman said the price of the state-owned LP Gas Company’s LPG will remain unchanged as it has no relation with the global market price.
The new price will be effective from October 10 and from now on the regulatory body will announce the new LPG price on the 7th of every month in order to make the global market price effective for the local market.
LPG industry insiders said the Saudi CP is normally announced at the end of every month to make it effective for the next month and it takes 7-10 days for a shipment of the fuel to arrive in the country.
Most Bangladeshi private companies import their bulk LPG from the Middle East on the basis of Saudi CP and market it locally.
The BERC for the first time fixed the retail-level LPG price on April 12 after holding a public hearing to comply with a High Court order.