While admitting that it would be better if the public consultation on electricity tariff revisions could be done covering all Districts, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) stated that it is however not possible to do so as the related process should be completed within a short period of time.
With the PUCSL's public consultation on the proposed electricity tariff revision to be held in Colombo this month (October), the Electricity Consumers' Association (ECA) recently charged that the people in remote areas, particularly those in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, are not represented in it.
When contacted by The Daily Morning to inquire about the matter, PUCSL member Douglas Nanayakkara said that it is much better if the public consultation could be held in all 25 districts, but that it is not possible to do it as the process related to the tariff revisions should be completed within a short period. “With regard to the ideas of the people from remote areas, we agree that there is an issue, but, in most cases, there would be only two or three months left for the tariff revision related process to be concluded. If the process can be completed within a period like six months, we would have considered the expansion of public consultation.”
Despite the issue with regard to rural communities, he said that it was also not possible to reach everyone who commented on media platforms regarding the tariff revisions. “The public consultation is held at a given place, mostly the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo. There are several consumption categories, and they are represented by their representatives. We see many people commenting on media platforms regarding this, but we cannot reach all those parties. The opinion of the entire population is not possible at all.”
In a recent letter addressed to the Director General of the PUCSL, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had stated that it had proposed a 3.15% reduction in the electricity tariff for the period from July to December, 2023, but the PUCSL had reduced the tariff by about 14.2%, thus curtailing a considerable amount of the allowed expenditure (approximately Rs. 33 billion) for the operations of the CEB for 2023. Therefore, the CEB had requested the PUCSL to take appropriate actions, impliedly the approval of a tariff hike. The PUCSL had then called for suggestions and comments from the public in that regard until 18 October.
Meanwhile, in order to heed the genuine public opinion, the ECA stated that it had planned to hold a public consultation on the latest tariff revision proposed by the CEB. The initial phase of the consultation, which would be attended by several parties including religious leaders, is to be held tomorrow (6), at the Maha Sangha (monks) Headquarters – Ramanna Nikaya (Sect), in Colombo 5, from 4 p.m.