Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) is not able to do anything except wasting time on the question of increasing gas prices for residential unmetered customers.

Sources say that the regulatory agency is not able to directly cancel such an invalid application due to the fear of the government. Instead, it has been hanging for years. However, the legal documents say that there is no opportunity to increase this price now. BERC is unable to give a decision due to both crises. Energy Division officials say that this unnecessary delay is unprecedented. They even call it illegal. Because it could not take steps to increase the price, BERC has also suspended the application for increasing the amount of gas allocation for unmetered residential customers for a year.

There is no opportunity to hang the application like this for a long time. Either accept or cancel. Such indecisiveness can be suicidal for BERC, say stakeholders.

They say this will render BERC ineffective. At one point, the organization will become a 'dead horse'!

The best opportunity will be taken by those who want to make BERC ineffective. This incident will give them an opportunity to say that BERC is not capable. They can easily say BERC cannot decide. BERC Act has been circumvented before using that shield.

Currently unmetered residential customers in the country are charged a fixed amount of gas bill. The customer has to pay the fixed bill whether he uses it, doesn't use it or uses more.

In this situation, Titas Gas has applied to increase the allocation from 55 cubic meters (Tk. 990) to 76.65 cubic meters in the existing one-stove connection and to increase it from 60 cubic meters (Tk. 1080) to 88.44 cubic meters in the two-stove connection.

If the quantity of gas increases, the price will naturally increase. BERC last hiked gas prices on June 5, 2022. A public hearing was held in March before the order was issued. Then the statistics of customers using prepaid meters of distribution companies show that on average one stove is using 40 cubic meters and two stoves are using a maximum of 50 cubic meters. Based on the usage figures of prepaid customers, one stove is reduced from 73.41 cubic meters and two stoves from 77.41 cubic meters to 55 and 60 cubic meters respectively. Titas objected to BERC's order 10 months later. Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company said in its petition that BERC has fixed the gas allocation without any survey or analysis of data against about 25 lakh unmetered customers. This has increased the technical losses and the government for-profit organization Titas is facing financial losses.

Former member of BERC (Gas 2022) Maqbul E-Elahi Chowdhury told Barta24com that Titas Gas allegations are not true. According to him, this allocation should have been below 50 cubic meters.

Mokbul Chowdhury said that Titas had 3.5 lakh prepaid meters where it was seen that less than 45 cubic meters were used. It is known only by looking at the bill information of the prepaid meter. You don't need to know rocket science for this.

There are about 44 lakh residential customers across the country, out of which about 5 lakh use prepaid meters. Evidence of prepaid meter users does not in any way support the claims of the gas companies. Most of the statistics show that prepaid customers are using less than 30 cubic meters of gas on an average. That information is flashing at your fingertips. Not only had that statistics, BERC conducted a survey in 2019 with BIDS (Bangladesh Development Research Institute). The main objective was to provide a snapshot of gas usage by residential prepaid meter users and unmetered customers.

A survey was conducted on the customers of 6 companies in the country. That report is also in hand of BERC.

However, the report has been suppressed by the company for mysterious reasons. In December 2019, BIDS Senior Research Fellow Dr. Nazneen Ahmed and her team submitted that report. The report highlights the variation in usage by small households, large households and distribution companies and even between meters and non-meters.

According to the report of the survey conducted on 1054 residential customers in 13 districts, single burner prepaid meter users are using 35.5 cubic meters and two burners are using 59.3 cubic meters of gas. On an average, 57.9 cubic meters of gas were used by meter users. And non-meter customers used an average of 56 meters of gas. Despite having so much information, the distribution companies have taken the initiative to cut the pockets of 39 lakh unmetered customers. And despite knowing everything, BERC cannot show the courage to cancel the application.

There are many precedents in the past for rejecting incomplete and unfair proposals in the commission itself. But now the commission is walking on the path of unnecessary controversy. The concerned said that there is no precedent of hanging any price increase proposal for 1 year before.

Regarding the delay in the application of Titas Gas, BERC Chairman Nurul Amin told Barta24.com that they were asked to submit some documents due to lack of application. They delayed the payment because of the time taken. After that, Director Gas was appointed as a member of a committee who scrutinized and gave a report. The report is being worked on.

When asked about the legal aspects of being suspended for a year, he claimed that there was no exception.

But critics say, BERC is indecisive because of fear of the government. A major reason for the commission's fear is that the government clipped BERC's wings and caged it just when its wings were growing. In 2023, by amending the law, government decided to fix the price of gas and electricity by executive order. As a result the quasi-judicial institution has practically become unemployed. Some are even calling the commission a ‘dead horse’ now.

BERC was established as a neutral and quasi-judicial autonomous body through the Energy Regulatory Commission Act in 2003. The commission was established in 2009 to ensure accountability and consumer rights of gas and electricity distribution companies. So far 11 regulations have been formulated. Another 12 regulations have been pending approval for more than a century. BERC was fixing prices only at consumer level of gas and at wholesale and consumer level of electricity as the regulations giving power to fix prices of all types of fuel were pending. The price of fuel oil has always been given by the executive order of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division. The responsibility of which never came to the hands of the regulatory body.

The Power Division could not reach any agreement in the meeting with the agitating officers and employees of Palli Bidyut Samiti(PBS). The leaders of Palli Bidyut Samiti have announced to continue the strike.

On Friday (July 5) representatives of 80 Palli Bidyut Samiti sat in a meeting with Senior Secretary of Power Division Habibur Rahman at Bidyut Bhaban. Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board REB Chairman Ajay Kumar Chakravorty and other officials were present at the time.

AGM Engineer Rajan Kumar Das of the protesting Palli Bidyut Samiti spoke to the journalists after the meeting. He sought the Prime Minister's intervention.

Rural Electrification Board (REB) and Polli Bidyut Samiti (PBS) have merged to implement uniform employment rules and to regularize contractual employees. Since July 1, 80 PBS of the country have been on strike keeping the emergency electricity services running as before.

Earlier, when the same movement was held from last May 5, the Secretary of Power sat in discussion with them. The strike was suspended on two conditions on the assurance of accepting the demands. The condition was that the dismissed, attached, stand-released officers and employees should be reinstated in their respective workplaces with exemption. Two, a discussion meeting will be held within 15 days with representatives from each level. In this meeting it was said that there is no trust in REB.

But almost 2 months have passed but no discussion or any initiative has been taken in the light of the proposal. Moreover, the protestors have complained that 2 (two) suspended officials and 2 (two) officials who were on stand release have not been reinstated to their workplaces by disobeying the decision of the Senior Secretary of the Power Division.

S. Alam & Co., one of the top industrial groups of the country, has taken the master plan of various projects in joint initiative with the government to overcome the ailing condition of the country's sugar industry. These projects will be implemented with the help of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation- BSFIC and the Ministry of Industry. These include - improved sugarcane production and training of farmers through the use of technology, construction of modern sugarcane processing factories, 6 MW power co-generation, construction of agro-voltaic solar power plants, construction of by-product based plants, development of cold storage and agro processing industries including lifting, construction of packaging factory etc. The said projects will be implemented in Setabganj of Dinajpur and sugar mill area of Faridpur.

1. Alam & Co. will take initiative in producing high quality sugarcane. In this regard, the company will work jointly with BSFIC, BSRI and international researchers. Modern technology including cloning, genetic engineering will be used to develop different hybrid breeds. At the same time initiatives will be taken to maximize production by training farmers.

Besides, S. Alam & Co a modern sugarcane processing plant of 1250 TCD capacity will be constructed at Setabganj Sugar Mill in Dinajpur, which can be expanded up to a maximum of 2500 TCD. And will build a modern sugarcane processing plant of 1000 TCD capacity at Faridpur Sugar Mill, which can also be expanded up to a maximum of 2500 TCD.

12 thousand tons of premium quality brown sugar will be produced from here every year which will increase to 15 to 18 thousand tons per year. Since it is not possible to earn profit from an industrial establishment without running it throughout the year, a sugar refinery will be set up by S. Alam & Co. Through this, it will be possible to refine about 900 Tpd of imported raw sugar annually when there is demand (in season) and 1000 Tpd of raw sugar during low demand (off season).

Further, power plants of 6 MW or more capacity will be constructed to meet the demand of sugar factories, sugar refineries and other plants, factories. In this case, sugarcane residue or waste will be used as boiler fuel. Also, dual fuel boilers can be used, where coal is also used as fuel.

Besides, S. Alam & Co will build 100 MW capacity Agro-Voltaic Solar Power Plant in Setabganj and 10 MW capacity in Faridpur sugar mill area. It will require 400 acres and 40 acres of land respectively. Various crops will be produced under this solar plant project. After domestic consumption, excess power from the solar plant will be fed into the national grid.

Sugar mills have various by-products such as molasses, filter press mud and ash. Molasses will be sold to Keru & Co to these plants for other by-products will be produced accordingly. Apart from this, solar plant and storage of seasonal crops in Dinajpur and Faridpur areas will be required. Therefore cold storage of 2000 metric tons capacity will be built in sugar mill area of Setabganj and Faridpur.

Product diversification is essential to transform Setabganj Sugar Mill and Faridpur Sugar Mill into profitable ventures. Dinajpur and Faridpur regions have an abundance of vegetables and fruits, which present a significant opportunity for agricultural processing. S. Alam & Co plans to set up a vegetable processing plant to produce frozen, canned, dehydrated and pickled vegetables.

Also- Manufacture of canned fruit juices, mixed fruit juices and dried fruits from different types of fruits, manufacture of frozen French fries, potato chips, starch, pasta, noodles, soups, frozen meals, canned foods, pickles, cereals and other food products. And there is also a plan to process S. Alam and Co.

The proposed factories will require different types of PP bags, LDPE packets and different types of packaging for the products. Therefore, S.Alam & Co will set up one packaging factory in both Setabganj and Faridpur. The production capacity of these factories will be determined through feasibility study.

S.Alam & Co will create employment by building sustainable agro-based industries, boost the local economy and strengthen the country's economy. These investments will make a significant contribution.

The MoU signing ceremony of this initiative was attended by - Honorable Minister of the Ministry of Industry Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, MP; Zakia Sultana, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Industries; Ministry of Industries Additional Secretary (State Corporations) SM Alam; Additional Secretary (Planning) of the Ministry of Industry. Shamimul Haq; BSFIC Secretary Chowdhury Ruhul Amin Kaiser and BSFIC Chairman Sheikh Shoibul Alam NDC. In addition, S. Alam and Co on behalf present were - Director Belal Ahmed, Director Ashraful Alam, Executive Director (Finance), Subrata Kumar Bhowmik, FCA; Adviser. Arifur Rahman Apu; Accounts, Deputy General Manager, Md. Maniruzzaman, FCA; Accounts, AGM. Nazrul Islam, ACA; SS Power 1 Limited Manager, Technical Services Nagib Mahfuz and others. 

Chairman of Petrobangla Janendra Nath Sarkar confirmed to Barta24.com that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given approval in principle for the project of drilling 100 wells for oil and gas exploration and production.

He told Barta24.com that we had put forward the works even before getting the Prime Minister's approval. Work has been put forward so that the Development Project Proposal (DPP) can be expedited. We are looking to avoid hiring consultants to save time and money. I want to do the work through an expert committee, where teachers and experts of Dhaka University will be involved as well as Petrobangla.

In response to a question, he said that the process of appointing consultants is a very long process and also very expensive. The work through the consultant will cost Tk. 50 to Tk. 60 lakhs. We can complete the same work at a nominal price of Tk. 50 thousand to Tk. 1 lakh. We can complete the work in 15 days which would take a few months for the consultant.

The Chairman of Petrobangla said that Petrobangla will dig a well and gas may or may not be found in that well. Feasibility studies should not be mandatory where there is a 100% chance of failure. Petrobangla should be allowed to work that way because the working pattern is completely different. Only then will the country's oil and gas exploration and production speed up.

A project of drilling 48 wells is currently underway. The 100 well drilling project which has received the Prime Minister's approval will be completed between 2026 and 2028. It will require Tk. 20 thousand crore. Tk. 7 thousand crore will be provided from the company's own funds. A funding of Tk. 3.5 thousand crore has been requested from the government every year.

Energy experts have been blaming the stagnation of exploration for the gas crisis in the country. Energy experts have been critical of Petrobangla for decades of laxity. But that day is now beginning to change. The current Chairman Janendra Nath Sarkar has changed the opening of Petrobangla. On the one hand, as the pace has increased, on the other hand, new dimensions have been added to oil and gas exploration.

Until now, Bangladesh was stuck in a certain bottleneck in oil and gas exploration. To put it more briefly, the Surma Basin i.e., starting from Sylhet, was stuck between Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Brahmanbaria, Cumilla, Feni, Noakhali and Bhola. Although there are some exploration activities in other areas, the amount can be said to be negligible. Petrobangla is going to bring radical changes there too.

About 99 exploratory wells have been drilled in the territory of Bangladesh in 112 years. And Petrobangla wants to dig 69 wells in 3 years. Although many people think it is ambitious, he commented that it is very important.

Professor of Geology Department at Dhaka University Dr. Badrul Imam said, if gas is not found in a well, it is not allowed to start commotion. If 8 out of 10 are dry, then it is not possible. In Rajasthan, Unocol drilled 13 wells in a row and got dry. The company's headquarters then asked not to drill any more wells, but the geologists risked a lot by drilling well number fourteen and discovered the largest mine in India.

In the seminar related to Petrobangla's 100 well drilling project, Professor of Geology Department of Dhaka University Dr. Anwar Hossain Bhuiyan said, if 25 wells fail, and if gas is found in 26th wells, the price is very high. Several times the cost will come up.

Chairman of Petrobangla said in that event, we have been brought out from the dark ages. If the well fails, I will take responsibility as Chairman. I promise that there will be no departmental case or investigation committee against any official. If I succeed, I will take responsibility if I fail.

Such a declaration of the Petrobangla Chairman has infused courage among the officers and employees. That is why Petrobangla has returned to speed in real terms.