The energy advisor informed us that the latest hike in power prices is "negligible" and it won't hurt much. His sentiment was echoed by the state minister of power that consumers who use up to 200 units of power will be dishing out a mere Tk 20–25 more per month, which according to our minister and advisor is a measly amount.

The real question is why consumers are being subjected to the eighth power hike in eight years. We are told that such adjustment is necessary to meet the revenue requirements of power distributors. And we would like to reiterate what we have said countless times before: Why should consumers, both businesses and retail consumers, pick up the tab because of inefficiencies of power distributors?

We are sorry to say that we cannot share the position of our policymakers when it comes to raising power tariff, no matter how negligible. The power pricing policy of the country is inevitably stacked against the consumers who are expected to pay more and more because of inefficiencies that exist at distribution level.

Where are the government initiatives and drives to increase the efficiency of these bodies? What steps has the government taken to curtail the "system loss" of the various distribution companies? What long-term steps have authorities taken to reduce the cost of electricity generation? One would think that authorities have decided to pass the burden of price hikes on to consumers and consumer groups permanently, whose protests fall on the deaf ears of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) public hearings.