The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has not given a positive response to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Chairman, Janaka Ratnayake's request to propose a reduction in electricity tariffs, taking into account the recent developments in the country that have driven down the electricity related utility demand, The Daily Morning learned.
Ratnayake had recently urged the CEB to propose a tariff reduction by 15 May, taking into account the recent developments in the country that have driven down the electricity utility, including the reduction in fuel prices and the appreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee against the United States Dollar.
When The Daily Morning queried CEB Chairman Nalinda Illangakoon as to whether the CEB had responded to the said request, he said that the CEB had sent a reply in writing to Ratnayake and the other PUCSL members on 6 April regarding the said request. In response to a question regarding the content of the response, he said that he was not in a position to make a comment on the matter at this point, adding however that the CEB would make a public announcement regarding it after going through the relevant processes.
Meanwhile, Ratnayake told The Daily Morning yesterday (18) that in the letter sent to him by the CEB, he had been informed that the latter was expecting to propose a revision of electricity tariffs by 15 May, 2023. However, he said that there was nothing optimistic about lowering the tariffs. "It has been said that a tariff revision will be proposed, but it does not mention a possible reduction in tariffs. They are talking about various other things such as that they were not allowed to make the revision in August of last year (2022) as they had asked for. Our aim is to reduce electricity charges and give relief to consumers. We are now in the process of replying to that letter," he explained.
Issuing a statement, Ratnayake recently said that as per actual data for the first quarter of the year (2023), the electricity demand in the country had dropped by 18% in comparison to 2022, explaining in turn that this reduces the reliance on high cost, oil fired thermal electricity generation. Further noting that the US dollar (US$) exchange rate had gone down from Rs. 370 per dollar to around Rs. 325 per dollar, which is a 13% reduction, he said that the same brings down fuel and other import costs of the CEB, thereby reducing the costs by about 20% per annum. "In addition to those two cost drivers, the international fuel prices too have reduced significantly, and as a result, the fuel costs to the CEB would reduce significantly. At present, the Richards Bay Coal index is at US$ 133 per metric tonne (MT), the Singapore PLATTS for Furnace Oil is US$ 403 per MT, Singapore PLATTS for Diesel is US$ 98.38 per barrel and Singapore PLATTS for high quality chemical Naphtha is US$ 674 per MT.”
When contacted by The Daily Morning at the time of print, a senior official of the CEB said that a decision with regard to such a request could not be made without having discussions with the relevant parties. "This is something that has to be discussed. We cannot make a comment on this kind of matter just because someone has made a request. All we can say is that the CEB has received the relevant letter. We will look into the matter and make a decision. Once a decision is made, we will inform everyone including the public," he said.