- Hospitals and armed forces biggest creditors
Dozens of State institutions and enterprises are yet to settle their electricity bills to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), with the total outstanding payments to the utility provider remaining at approximately Rs. 2.8 billion as of mid-December, The Sunday Morning learns.
The CEB last year highlighted billions of rupees in unpaid bills, some reaching back decades, as one of the issues causing the State utility provider’s rupee shortage.
When asked about who the biggest creditors were, CEB General Manager Rohan Seneviratne told The Sunday Morning that at present (31 December), a number of State hospitals and key armed forces establishments held most of the State sector arrears.
“Some State institutions have made partial payments. As such, their arrears have reduced to about two or three months’ worth of bills. Others, the ones that owe the most in arrears, are State hospitals and armed forces, which includes some key bases,” Seneviratne said.
He added that the CEB was reluctant to disconnect hospitals and armed forces establishments from the power supply over lack of payments, as both institutions were viewed as critical national services.
However, Seneviratne stressed that the CEB’s efforts over the last several months with support from the Ministry of Power and Energy had managed to push a number of State institutions to pay most of their arrears.
“We have managed to bring down the average arrears to the one-and-a-half month level after an exhaustive effort to get many State institutions to pay up. There is room for improvement, however, and all electricity consumers are afforded a month’s grace period to pay their arrears as well,” Seneviratne said, adding that the CEB had been struggling to collect its dues during the two years when the Covid-19 pandemic had been ongoing.
Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera told the media last week that the issue of a number of parliamentarians not honouring their electricity arrears had largely been settled, with payments made by many.
However, responding to a question, Minister Wijesekera stated that some institutions and ministries owed the CEB millions of rupees that had been due for more than one or two decades. “There are some outstanding bills from the 1990s too, so this is a challenge,” he said.
Attempts to contact the Treasury and the Ministry of Public Administration regarding the delays in paying arrears failed.
– By Asiri Fernando