CEB top management backs Minister’s wish to hike tariffs

By Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board top management strongly believes that Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara had rightly stated that tariff hike is a must for the survival of the CEB, unless fuel is given at a very concessionary rate.

Wijesekara yesterday also said that the Government hasn’t proposed to recover past losses of the Board from a tariff revision as asserted by the electricity sector regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL).

He said that the proposal that was presented was for an automatic cost-reflective tariff mechanism to be implemented to supply uninterrupted power and to recover the current cost of power supply.

Wijesekara stressed that the CEB estimates that to produce one unit of electricity it will cost Rs. 56.90 for an uninterrupted power supply for 2023.

The current average tariff is at Rs. 29.14 and the deficit is estimated to be Rs. 423.5 Billion, the Minister noted.

He added: “There are 6,709,574 domestic consumers according to CEB billing data”.

The number of consumers for 0-30 units is 1,460,828 and they pay Rs. 8 per unit, while 30-60 units has 1,683,172 consumers who pay Rs. 10 per unit, he pointed out.

Between 60 and 90 units has 1,702,515 consumers and pay Rs. 16 per unit while 90-180 units has 1,559,131 consumers and pay Rs. 50 per unit. 180+ units has 303,928 consumers paying Rs. 75 per unit, he added.

Wijesekara also emphasized that the lower layers are heavily subsidized while the top layer of consumers pays over the average cost of a unit to compensate a part of the subsidy, and the balance subsidy is borne by the treasury.

“My personal opinion is that every layer should be Rs. 56.90 per unit and a direct cash allowance for low-income families”, he added.