Electricity costs in urban areas will go up by five per cent per unit above 100 units of consumption as decided by the Advisers Committee on Economic Affairs on February 5. The procedures to make the new rates effective will be initiated immediately. For up to 100 units of consumption, electricity charge per unit would remain at the current rate Tk 2.5. But per unit electricity cost between 101 and 400 units will be increased to Tk 3.15 from the current cost of Tk 3 per unit while it will be Tk 5.25 per unit for above 400 units of consumption, the current rate of which is Tk 5.

As 80 per cent of electricity consumers use below 100 units, ordinary people would not be affected by the price rise. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is set to approve a $465 million loan to Bangladesh in the power sector, for which the electricity price was a condition.