Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday rejected the electricity price hike proposal from the Power Development Board, saying  the data provided is insufficient.

At a virtual press conference, BERC said the PDB did not provide information on electricity purchase rates from its different producers and has also not submitted the price hike impact data at the distributor and consumer levels.

"The information provided by the PDB was inadequate and that's why we couldn't analyse the real situation. If we hiked the price [based] on the [incomplete data], it would be unrealistic and would only bring on chaos," said BERC Chairman Abdul Jalil.

"The bulk price of electricity will remain the same as was announced in February 2020."

Replying to a question, Jalil said they took the decision considering the current economic situation of the people.

The BERC decision came at a time when people have been struggling to cope with the skyrocketing prices of essentials following the fuel and gas price hikes earlier this year.

"BERC's decision ensured justice [for the people], " said Prof M Shamsul Alam, senior vice president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh.

He also asked BERC to review the gas price as the government has stopped importing liquified natural gas from the international spot market.

"The government hiked the domestic gas price citing the high LNG price in the global market, but it has since then stopped importing LNG."

Responding to a query about the PDB claiming a Tk 30,000 crore deficit, Mohammad Bazlur Rahman, a BERC member, said, "The data we have in hand is not enough to support that claim. What we know is that the PDB is getting Tk 17,000 crore as subsidy from the government to manage the 'deficit'."

The PDB applied for a 66 percent hike in the electricity price in January this year, which the BERC rejected as "incomplete application".

On May 18, BERC held a public hearing, after acquiring supporting documents, where its technical committee recommended a 58 percent hike instead.