Bangladesh’s energy regulator has set the first electricity tariffs for renewable energy-based merchant power plants, allowing private generators to sell power to the state-owned electricity utility as well as directly to industrial customers.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) announced on Wednesday that electricity supplied by merchant power plants to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will cost Tk6.98 per unit at 33 kilovolts (kV) and Tk7.11 per unit at 132kV.
The tariffs will apply to sales to the BPDB, while merchant generators will retain the option of selling electricity to third-party customers.
The BPDB has also been assigned sole responsibility for managing and settling electricity supplied by merchant power plants.
The new framework is intended primarily to encourage investment in renewable energy generation by allowing private developers to establish power plants and sell electricity directly to industrial consumers.
Under the arrangement, generators will be able to use the country’s existing transmission and distribution networks to deliver electricity to customers outside the location of the power plant. For example, a renewable power plant in Rangpur could supply an industrial consumer in Dhaka or Chattogram, subject to payment of the applicable transmission and distribution charges.
For open-access transmission, BERC has set charges of 37 poisha per unit at 230kV and 38 poisha at both 132kV and 33kV levels.
A uniform distribution charge of Tk1.17 per unit will apply to all users, while the energy management and settlement charge has been fixed at 5 poisha per unit.
The framework also allows state-owned distribution companies to purchase up to 20% of their electricity requirements from merchant power plants.
For such purchases, the applicable tariff will be Tk6.98 per unit for electricity delivered at 33kV and Tk7.11 per unit at 132kV.
The introduction of merchant power plants marks a new development in Bangladesh’s electricity market, particularly for renewable generation. It creates a mechanism through which private investors can generate electricity independently of the traditional power purchase structure and supply eligible industrial consumers through the existing grid.