Dhaka, Nov 21 : Bangladesh has decided to hike the electricity price by 19.92 per cent at the wholesale level from next month. The increase was approved by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) and the decision was announced by its chairman Abdul Jalil on Monday, reports Xinhua news agency. The new tariff will come into effect from December 1, Jalil said while announcing the decision at a press conference. According to the announcement, the retail power tariff has been increased from 5.17 taka to 6.20 taka per kilowatt-hour unit at the wholesale level. BERC said it made the decision in responding to a review petition filed by the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) to increase the electricity price at the wholesale level. The BERC chairman said the new price will be effective only for power distribution companies and some other bulk consumers. He said they may request a new public hearing soon for any hike in retail prices. Although he said that bulk power tariff hike will have no impact on the retail prices, experts claimed the mark-up in the bulk power price would likely push up the nation's inflation rate again. Inflation in the country accelerated to 9.52 per cent in August, the highest in 10 years, mainly driven by higher food prices, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has reported. /IANS