effective from March 1 this year.
This is the first time the AL-led government has increased the price of electricity since it took power last year.
The announcement came through a press briefing organised by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission.
Addressing the briefing BERC chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain  said the tariff hike would help cut wastage of power and improve quality of service.
According to the enhanced structure household consumers who will use 0-100 kWh of power, will have to pay an increased tariff of Tk 2.60 per unit, which is 4 per cent higher than the previous tariff.
Earlier, the household subscribers were paying Tk 2.50 for first 100 units.
Domestic consumers under DESCO in the 101-400 kWh slab will now be charged Tk 3.30 per unit instead of the previous TK 3.15, up by 4.76 per cent.
Those consuming above 400 kWh will have to pay Tk 5.65 per unit instead of the previous TK 5.25, a rise of 7.62 per cent.
Prices for small industries in the flat rate, off peak and peak hour slabs have been hiked to Tk 4.35, Tk 3.50 and Tk 5.95 per kWh, raising them by 8.21 per cent, 9.38 per cent and 5.87 per cent respectively.
Commercial consumers face hikes of 3.05 per cent to Tk 8.45 per kWh during peak hours, 6.58 per cent to Tk 4.05 kWh in off-peak hours or 5.28 per cent to Tk 5.58 kWh as a flat rate.
Tariff in the agriculture sector, Tk 1.94 per kWh, will remain unchanged.
The government last increased tariffs for consumers in March 2007 and the bulk tariff for PDB's clients in October 2008.
BERC decided on the new tariffs following requests by four state-run entities-Power Development Board (PDB), Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), Dhaka Electricity Supply Company Limited (DESCO) and West Zone Power Development Company Ltd (WZPDCL).
The operators have been asking for raising the prices for some time on the grounds that they were suffering losses.
BERC officials said that Desco posted a profit of Tk 57 crore last fiscal year while Power Development Board (PDB) incurred a loss of Tk 228 crore and Dhaka Power Distribution Co Ltd (DPDC) Tk 30 crore. PDB is expected to earn a profit of Tk 114 crore and DPDC of Tk 132 crore next fiscal year thanks to the tariff hike. He did not offer a projection of Desco's profit following the hike.
The development partners have been pressing the government for long to raise the price hike of power to offset the loss of this sector and during the meeting of the Bangladesh Development Forum last month the government had assured them of rationalising the power tariff.

Source the independent bangladesh