After joining the club of liquefied natural gas (LNG) importers, Bangladesh has now moved for another round of gas price hike after revising it last year.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday that a series of public hearings over hiking the prices will start from Jun 11.

The country became the first LNG-importing nation in 2018 after the first shipment arrived from Qatar on Apr 24. The government expects to start supplying it to the national grid by this month.

Gas prices were revised up by an average of 22.70 percent in February last year with households hit with over a 50 percent monthly rise for stoves.

The LNG import has triggered the second round of revision, a little over a year after the last hike.

A BERC member, however, says a public hearing does not necessarily mean that prices are going up.
“The transmission companies have forwarded their proposal for hike. The commission’s job is to evaluate those proposals and a public hearing will allow collecting all the stakeholders’ opinion,” Adbul Aziz Khan told Bangla Tribune.
A decision will come within 90 days after the public hearing, in line with the BERC law, he added.

Earlier this year, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid hinted at a possible rise while speaking to the media.

“Prices for industrial and commercial gas supplies as well as power have to be revised after LNG import starts,” he said in February, but did not clear whether prices of household gas will go up. 

Prices (per cubic metre) after last year’s revision

Households are charged at a monthly rate in two categories — Tk 900 for single burner stove and Tk 950 for double burner stove, which was hiked by 50%.

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