Another electricity tariff hike in October?

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has made a request from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to increase electricity tariffs once again, citing the need to cover the costs for thermal power generation during the months when arid weather conditions were prevalent across the country.

CEB General Manager Eng. Dr. Narendra De Silva said they have sought an electricity tariff hike in October, which was supposed to be made in January.

Dr. De Silva said the CEB had to bear additional costs for power generation as it was unable to generate an adequate amount of hydropower this year.

According to him, 4,500 gigawatt hours (GWh) of hydropower was expected to be produced, but only 3,750 GWh of hydropower had been produced.

Thereby, an additional 750 GWh of electricity had to be produced from thermal power plants, adding that additional costs had to be borne by the CEB as a result.

The PUCSL chairman Manjula Fernando said the CEB’s request, which was forwarded to the commission on Wednesday (Sept. 28), would be taken into consideration.