The Bangladesh Economic Association on Thursday (29 October) boycotted the day-long public hearing organised by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) at the BIAM Auditorium in Dhaka on proposals to raise LPG prices and related charges. The association said the boycott was a protest against persistent irregularities by private LPG companies and the failure of the regulator to enforce its own rules or ensure accountability.
Association representative Professor Dr Syed Mizanur Rahman told the hearing that LPG suppliers had created artificial shortages, sold cylinders above BERC-fixed prices, and that the commission itself had not been held to account. He noted that an NSI intelligence report had specifically named five LPG companies for engineering market shortages, and asked whether those complaints had been resolved and what action, if any, had been taken against the firms.
The association also highlighted large-scale overcharging. It said distributors had supplied LPG to retailers above BERC rates and that retailers had then sold to consumers at even higher prices. While the Directorate of Consumer Protection had fined some retailers and collected over Tk 11 lakh in one month, the association claimed consumers had been overcharged by roughly Tk 630 crore in the same period. It questioned whether simply fining small retailers made the excess collections by upstream companies legitimate, and demanded to know what BERC had done to recover the money or punish the companies.
On pricing methodology, the association raised several concerns about both past and current decisions:
- In 2021, after a High Court order, BERC set LPG prices and charge rates through a public hearing and increased the charge on a 12 kg cylinder by Tk 55. Five years later, in 2026, companies are again seeking a charge increase. The association asked whether the 2021 rates had already been set above actual costs.
- BERC has considered a charge-increase application from the LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh (LOAB), a body that includes unlicensed operators. The association said this undermines BERC’s claimed independence and impartiality.
- For import freight, companies again proposed US$120 per tonne—the same figure used in 2021—despite consumer groups earlier submitting evidence that actual freight was closer to US$69 per tonne.
The association further stated that the proposing parties had not followed legal standards for cost determination and that BERC had failed to properly scrutinise the proposals. It declared the boycott because BERC had not disposed of petitions seeking accountability of the commission itself, had taken no visible action against the five companies named in the NSI report, and had not imposed statutory penalties for systematic sales above official prices.
The hearing continued with presentations from consumers, dealers and LPG company representatives, but the Economic Association’s walkout underscored long-standing complaints of market manipulation by private operators and weak enforcement by the regulator.