CEB facing massive loss demands fuel subsidy from Treasury to break even

By Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) top management projects a loss of Rs. 280 billion for next year and even to go for a break even they urge the Treasury to give them a subsidy on fuel, including for Independent Power Purchases (IPPs) from outside producers.A senior official told The Sunday Island that they don’t want to burden the consumers with another tariff hike though they have no choice other than Treasury intervention.

The official also said that though Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera said that the CEB does not follow the instructions of the regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for providing relief on electricity bills to places of worship.

Ven. Omalpe on Thursday said that the recent revision of electricity tariff had left the consumers extremely uncomfortable and resulted in a 510% increase in the electricity bill of some places of worship.He said a complaint was lodged with the PUCSL chairman, and he had agreed to provide relief from the electricity consumption charges.

According to PUCSL the annual revenue requirement as filed by CEB is Rs. 505 billion (excluding LECO costs) requiring 82.4% increase in revenue to recover the projected costs for 2022. When the proposed tariff revision is applied, the overall revenue increase is forecast at 512 billion (including LECO sales) meaning a 79% increase.

The tariff revision has been submitted in terms of Section 30(2) of Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009 and the tariff methodology approved by the PUCSL. The regulator stated that it rejected the CEB’s proposal to increase electricity tariffs by 229%, capping the hike at 75%, after taking all public and other stakeholder comments into account.