The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has set new retail prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Auto Gas for the month of July at the consumer level due to the hike of its price in global market.
According to the new price, a 12 kg private LPG cylinder will cost Tk 891, which was earlier Tk 842 in June. The price of Auto Gas or LPG used in cars is fixed at Tk 44 per liter. Earlier it was available at Tk 41.84.
The new price will be effective from today (July, 01). However, the commission did not re-fix the prices of the LPG gas sold by the state-owned LP Gas Ltd (LPGL) due to no change in its production cost. The current price of the 12.5kg capacity LPG cylinder sold by LPGL is Tk 591.
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) made the announcement at a virtual press conference on Wednesday. A notice in this regard has also been published on the website of the commission.
Among others BERC Chairman Abdul Jalil, Mohammad Abu Faruque, Member (Admin & Finance), Md. Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury, Member (Gas), Mohammad Bazlur Rahman, Member (Power), Md. Kamruzzaman, Member (Petroleum), Rubina Ferdoushy, Secretary (Deputy Secretary) of the commission also attended the event.
The price will be adjusted every month based on the Saudi Contract Price (CP) of Propane and Butane. Propane and Butane are the two components of LPG, which Bangladesh imports from the international market.
The price of per litre of reticulated LPG was fixed at Tk 0.1597 per litre. The BERC also fixed prices for different sizes of LPG cylinders.
The BERC chairman said the price was fixed on the basis of the Saudi CP. Arguing for the price change, he said the propane price of Saudi Aramco was fixed at $530 per tonne and butane at $525 per tonne.
After mixing propane and butane as a ratio of 35 to 65, the average price stood at $526.75 per tonne. Related to this, the value of money against VAT and USD has changed proportionately.
The BERC fixed the LPG prices for the third time in a month. On April 12, the commission fixed the retail prices of LPG for the first time through conducting public hearing, where licensees and other stakeholders took part.
At that time the price of a 12 kg cylinder was fixed at Tk 975. However, it did not implement in the market. No government agency has been responsible for its implementation.
BERC could not give any clear assurance about the effectiveness of the new LPG price.
About 20 private companies have been operating in the market with more than 95 percent market share by annually importing 1.2 million metric tons of bulk LPG from mainly the Middle-East while the state-owned LP Gas Company is locally producing 25,000 MTs of LPG from locally produced condensates at different gas fields.
The government is discouraging natural gas connections or supply in pipelines in the sector due to the gas crisis. LPG is recommended as an alternative to ensuring fuel safety.
Consumers say that retailers demand prices as per their wish due to a lack of strict regulation and also lack of proper display of price tag on the cylinders. The price goes up in different situations. Many cylinders contain less quantity of LPG than mentioned. There is also a risk of accidents as many cylinders are not manufactured as per the international specifications.
In addition to residential purposes, various other uses of LPG have been started. Meanwhile, LPG has been introduced in the country for vehicles, which is mainly used as fuel for transportation. Autogas can be found at lower prices than petrol and compressed natural gas (CNG).
