The price of aircraft fuel (jet fuel) has been reduced. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has reduced the price of domestic routes from 111 taka to 93.57 taka per liter and from 75 cents to 60 cents on international routes.
The new price will be effective from 12:00 AM today (May 13). Other commissions will remain unchanged. BERC has announced that the import price will be adjusted every month. That is, if the price increases in the international market, the price will increase, and if it decreases, it will decrease.
BERC Chairman Jalal Ahmed announced the new price at a press conference on Tuesday (May 13) afternoon. BERC members Mizanur Rahman, Syeda Sultana Razia, Abdur Razzak and Brigadier General (retd.) Shahid Sarwar were present at the time, among others.
Until now, the BPC had been determining the price of this product. After assuming power, the interim government abolished the clause for fixing electricity and gas prices through an executive order. Then, through a notification on September 15, the authority to fix the prices of furnace oil and Jet A-1 was entrusted to BERC. After the notification, BERC held a public hearing on fixing the prices of jet fuel for the first time on March 23. Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) had proposed to reduce the price of jet fuel by 1 cent per liter for international routes and increase it by 1 taka for domestic routes.
According to the annual report of BPC, the sale of jet fuel in the fiscal year 2022-23 was 4 lakh 71 thousand 535 metric tons which increased to 5 lakh 41 thousand 33 metric tons in the fiscal year 2023-24.
BERC was formed as an impartial and quasi-judicial institution through the Energy Regulatory Commission Act in 2003. Although the law gives the authority to determine the prices of all types of fuel, BERC has been determining the prices of only gas and electricity as the regulations are pending. The previous Awami League government amended the law in 2023 and added a provision for price adjustment (lower/higher) in the executive order. Since then, the quasi-judicial institution has been practically without any work. However, the institution has started to gain momentum after the interim government repealed the clause in the executive order. However, as before, the prices of diesel, kerosene, petrol and octane are still being determined by executive orders.
The regulations under which fuel oil prices are being determined by executive orders so far. They are still pending. The regulations, which have been pending since 2012, were started to be worked on in the early days of the interim government, but now they have gone into darkness again.
