President Ranil Wickremesinghe has directed Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) officials to ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity to customers once the latest tariff revision is implemented.
The Head of State also gave instructions to provide concessions to low-income families and solar rooftop systems to religious places, government and educational institutions, according to the President’s Media Division (PMD).
The Ceylon electricity board as the licensee made a request for the revision of electricity tariff on the 05th of January under the provisions of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act 2009 which was approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) yesterday (15).
However, President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued a directive to the Minister of Power and Energy and the relevant CEB officials this morning (16) to implement the tariff revision ensuring the uninterrupted power supply for the electricity customers, provide concessions for low-income families and provide solar rooftop systems for religious places and government education institutions, the PMD reported.
The directives came a day after the CEB announced that the Public Utilities Commission green-lighted its proposal seeking a 66% increase in electricity tariffs to generate additional revenue of LKR 287 billion to avoid losses.
On January 05, the CEB, as the licensee, made a request for the revision of electricity tariffs under the provisions of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act 2009.
Three of the commission’s members Attorney-at-Law Chathurika Wijesinghe, Douglas Nanayakkara and S.G. Senaratne gave the nod to the CEB’s tariff hike proposal while rejecting the PUCSL’s tariff division’s proposal seeking a tariff increase of 36%.
However, the electricity sector regulator’s chairman Janaka Ratnayake vehemently opposed the CEB’s tariff hike proposal, stressing that it is against the Electricity Act and the PUCSL Act.
He also alleged that the commission’s members had been pressurized by politicians, CEB officials and Power & Energy Ministry officials.
As per the new electricity tariff revision, the rate charged per one unit of electricity for the first 30 units in the domestic category, is increased to Rs. 30 from the previous rate of Rs. 08.
It has also been proposed to increase the Rs. 10 charged per unit for the units consumed between 31-60 up to Rs. 37 and for the consumption block of 61-90 units to Rs. 42 from Rs. 16.
