Final word on electricity tariff hike in two weeks

By Shiran Ranasinghe

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) will announce the new tariffs for electricity in two weeks.The period allocated for public consultations on the tariff review ended on Thursday. On Thursday, 50 people proposed recommendations and presented their ideas to the PUCSL on the proposed power tariff hike.

The PUCSL will take this into consideration when reviewing the tariffs.PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said they were considering a tariff hike of about 60 percent.

“This is a reasonable increase, given that we have not increased tariffs in eight years,” he said.

Ratnayake said the CEB had asked for a higher tariff increase and that without a tariff hike now, the CEB may collapse.

“The price of everything has gone up. A lot of inputs needed for electricity generation have increased, too,” he said.

Ratnayake said the CEB had asked the PUCSL to approve an 82% increase in tariffs for the year 2022 under Section 30 of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009.

The PUCSL Chairman said that while they will approve a tariff hike, but the CEB must take immediate steps to implement PUCSL recommendations made in 2014.These recommendations will reduce the operating costs of the utility significantly.

“They are the implementation of proper agreements to generate and supply electricity from power plants owned by the Ceylon Electricity Board; the implementation of a proper agreement method for electricity transactions between the Transmission and Distribution Divisions (between licensees) of the Ceylon Electricity Board; the introduction of a proper system for keeping separate accounts for the financial activities of the various divisions of the Ceylon Electricity Board (Generation, Transmission and Distribution) and the determination of the subsidy requirements and the introduction of an independent audit system for the process of purchasing electricity,” he said.