A MAJOR way to reform the power and energy sector, which has plunged the economy into a serious crisis for the 15 years of the authoritarian regime of the Awami League, toppled on August 5, is to repeal the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply Act 2010 that has all along safeguarded actors and their action in the sector by keeping them above the customary law. The indemnity law which was meant to provide for an early relief from the shortage of power, hovering around 5GW in 2009, later became a permanent arrangement 鈥� first extended by two years in 2012, then by four years in 2014, then by three years in 2018 and finally by five years in 2021 鈥� to finally increase the installed generation capacity to more than 28GW as of June although more than a half of the capacity could not be used and yet, the government kept paying for the capacity of the power that rental and independent producers have not generated. The Awami League has paid the power producers Tk 1,000 billion since 2009 in capacity charge for the power not produced, thus, transferring public money into private hands without being questioned, begetting corruption and irregularities and criminally burdening people with continued increase in power prices.
The law allows the award of power and energy projects 鈥� which also include the import of natural gas, coal, liquefied natural gas and petroleum products, the extraction of mineral resources and projects of power transmission and distribution in addition to power generation 鈥� to companies without tender, offering the scope for investments without risks and huge amount of guaranteed profits coming in capacity charge entitlements. It also violates the standard practice of public procurement. The second major step that the government should take is to amend the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act to ensure people鈥檚 right to public hearing before an increase in energy prices and to unburden people of the increased prices that the government can now arbitrarily effect. The Awami League government, having been intent on further robbing people, amended the legislation, effected through an ordinance promulgated on December 1, 2022 and then through the passage of the ordinance into the law on January 20, 2023, empowering itself to set gas and power prices, bypassing the commission and 鈥榰nder special circumstances鈥� without having to hold any public hearing. The government even earlier amended the legislation, which allowed a single price revision in a financial year, on November 18, 2020, allowing more than one tariff revisions a year. The 鈥榮pecial circumstances鈥� provision appears to be nothing short of the government鈥檚 device to pass the burden of its failures and flaws squarely on consumers.
The interim government must, therefore, repeal the power indemnity law that has bled the economy dry and consider cutting down on the power overcapacity for increased economic activities. The government must also amend the regulatory commission law to restore its right to hold public hearing in a meaningful way before any increase in energy prices. The commission must at the same time eliminate inefficiency and corruption to ensure uninterrupted, quality energy supply without price increase.