• Electricity consumers complain of wasteful salaries to consultants/officers to the said office  

The Electricity Consumers’ Association (ECA) has claimed that an “extravagant” expenditure would be incurred by the Government if it is to maintain the office to be established for the restructuring of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), including a monthly payment of about Rs. 2.4 million as a salary to its head.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (14), ECA General Secretary Sanjeewa Dhammika alleged that the Ministry of Power and Energy has appointed a consultant for the said office on 27 July, who will be acting as its head. 

“This consultant has been hired for a period of eight and a half months. He is required to come to the office for just 15 days a month. It has been decided to pay a monthly payment of $ 7,300. According to current exchange rates, it amounts to about Rs. 2.4 million. For the relevant period, the Government will spend Rs. 20 million on his salary alone.”

He also said that the ministry is to recruit a few more consultants and officials for the said office and that a credit facility offered by Japan would be utilised to pay them. “There are several persons waiting to be appointed as consultants and officers. The ministry has decided to allocate a sum of $ 300,000 to pay the salaries of these consultants and officers. In this manner, a sum of about Rs. 1 billion will be wasted. All this is happening at a time when the country is not even able to repay its foreign debt.”

Speaking further, Dhammika charged that the relevant authorities, such as the Auditor General’s Department and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, are also apathetic over the matter. “There is no point in lodging complaints with the relevant institutions as nothing happens in the end. However, we call on all electricity consumers to raise their voices against this fruitless expenditure. If not, it is the electricity consumers who will have to bear these expenses in the end,” he said.

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera was not available for comment.

The CEB owns and operates around 70% of the country’s electricity generation capacity, and currently serves around 6.8 million retail consumers. The process of reforming the CEB commenced last year (2022) with the appointment of a committee after considering the Cabinet memorandums dated 29 July 2022, 15 August 2022, and 2 September 2022, which were submitted with the intention of making institutional reforms to the power sector.