The reason behind the recent crisis about the electricity bill is the consumers’ lack of knowledge on the matter, says the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).

Officials of CEB mentioned this clarifying the issue to Minister of Power and Energy Mahinda Amaraweera at a press conference held today (24) on the payment of electricity bills.

They point out that household electricity consumption in the months of March, April, and May is comparatively higher than in February.

Stating that the latest bill issued for electricity consumption is correct, the CEB officials stated that although it may seem as if it is exorbitantly high, the bill has been calculated only the number of units consumed within the time period.

Commenting on the matter, Minister Amaraweera pointed out that every electricity consumer has their own account at the CEB and all bill payments are deposited into that particular account.

Therefore, even if a consumer pays more than the due charge, the money does not go to waste as the excess amount will be reduced from their next bill.

CEB further said that even if the payment of electricity bills for March, April, and May, there will be no additional charges.  However, this does not apply to the electricity bill of June as the country has returned to normalcy.

Reportedly, only 50% of the consumers have paid their bill for April, while 65% of May bills and over 90% of June bills have been paid for by the consumers.

While there won’t be any interruption to the power supply for delays in the payments for the months of March, April, and May, the case will not be similar for the consumers who had paid the electricity bills since January, CEB said.