The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has instructed the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to promptly refund amounts overcharged as reconnection fees since 6 March, to the relevant consumers.

Despite the PUCSL's directive to reduce the reconnection fee from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 800, effective 6 March, the CEB continued to charge Rs. 3,000 until late March. In response, the Electricity Consumers Association (ECA) urged the PUCSL to mandate the CEB to repay the additional income it earned by continuing to charge the higher reconnection fee.

In a letter addressed to the ECA General Secretary Sanjeewa Dhammika, the PUCSL's Director of Consumer Affairs Yasantha Rathuwithana, said that the PUCSL decided to lower the reconnection fee from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 800, effective 6 March. However, he noted that several consumers have complained, and that the PUCSL has also observed that the CEB continued to charge Rs. 3,000 as the reconnection fee. 

As a solution to this issue and considering the financial difficulties faced by electricity consumers at present, he informed the ECA that the PUCSL has provided necessary instructions to the CEB General Manager Dr. Narendra de Silva, to repay the additional sum of Rs. 2,200 charged from electricity consumers as reconnection fees from 6 March within a period of three months starting from 31 May.

In response to a request made under the Right to Information Act, No. 12 of 2016, the CEB had earlier informed Dhammika that it had carried out a total of 138,979 electricity supply disconnections during the 20 days from 5 to 25 March. The relevant communication stated that a sum of Rs. 3,000 was charged to restore such connections. The total income generated by the CEB from these restorations was reported to be over Rs. 400 million.