The LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh (LOAB) has claimed that the pricing process of LPG of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) was not realistic.
The organisation has demanded a re-pricing, saying traders would incur loss if they sell LPG at a fixed price. They also demanded that the price of auto gas should be fixed only once a year without changing it every month.
LOAB made the demand at a press conference at a hotel in the city on Tuesday. President of the organization Azam J Chowdhury read out a written statement at the press conference.
On April 12, BERC fixed the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for the first time as per the existing price in the international market. Later, BERC used to adjust the price of LPG every month considering the import price. But LPG traders have been opposing the fixing of price from the very beginning. They have not even implemented the price fixed by BERC.
LOAB recommends subsidized LPG to the customer at an affordable price. In a written statement at the press conference, the president of the organisation said that the price of LPG fixed by BERC on April 12 was not realistic. The international price of LP gas (Saudi Contract Price or CP) is announced at the beginning of each month. Therefore, it is necessary to announce the price as soon as the CP of LP gas is announced. BERC is currently announcing the price after one month. Since the new CP was announced at a different price immediately after the announcement of their price, there was a misunderstanding in the market about the price.
He added that if the price of auto gas is changed every month, there will be dissatisfaction at the consumer level. This is because the price of CNG does not change every month as there are other fuels for vehicles in the market. So LOAB requested BERC to fix the price of autogas once a year.
The BERC has been announcing a fixed price of LPG for every month in compliance with a High Court order since April this year for which the LPG now stands at Tk842 instead of previous price of over Tk1,000.
