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Top monk calls for boycott of light bills

29 Sep 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera   In the face of an unaffordable electricity tariff hike of 555% on places of worship, Embilipitiya Bodhiraja Temple Chief Incumbent Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera reiterated that the only solution for such places, including Buddhist temples, is to not pay electricity bills, despite what has been said by the Ministry of Power and Energy and the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). Speaking to The Morning, he said: “The Government has done this clearly as an act of revenge against religious places. It is apparent that the Government takes these decisions from the view that there is no need to have religious places. We see this as an anti-religious programme. Not only religious places but the general public also cannot afford these electricity tariff hikes, especially in the present situation.” Claiming that politicians have looted the wealth of the country for a long time, he said the current situation of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is due to the incompetence and negligence of politicians and other authorities. He further charged that the Government is now burdening the people and religious places to cover the loss, which is the result of their actions. “This is not a small increase. This is an increase of 555%. Therefore, we will not pay the electricity bills. The Government can cut off electricity in all religious places. We are in discussion with religious places including Buddhist temples regarding refusing to pay electricity bills. No matter what institutions like the Power and Energy Ministry and the PUCSL say, there is no way for us to pay the electricity bills, and therefore, we have no other option but to avoid paying bills," the monk added. Last month, the PUCSL approved an average 75% price hike for electricity tariffs for all electricity consumers in the country, which PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said was the first electricity tariff hike in nine years. He said that the electricity tariff hike was made after two proposals forwarded by the CEB this year to hike prices.  According to CEB data, tariffs for electricity used at religious places have been hiked by 555% driving up the charge per unit from Rs. 7.42 to Rs. 48.65. In response to a statement made by Sobhitha Thera that he would not pay the electricity bills, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera recently said that if temples fail to pay their electricity bills, it will result in the disconnection of the electricity supply. If the prelate in question falls into the same category as being a politician, he said that the non-payment of electricity bills will be treated as a default, and will in turn result in the disconnection of electricity.  


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