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Power consumers to file action against any tariff hike

07 Mar 2022

  • Threaten action against emergency power purchases too
The Electricity Users’ Association said yesterday (6) that it will take legal action to ensure that an electricity tariff hike does not occur, as it claimed was being planned by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). “We have heard that the CEB is attempting to hike electricity prices. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), in its proposals to the Cabinet, has also called for a hike in electricity tariffs. This means that the average electricity bill of a samurdhi income earner will increase by at least Rs. 1,000,” the Association’s General Secretary Sanjeewa Dhammika told the media yesterday. At a media briefing held over the weekend, CBSL Governor Ajith Nivaard Cabraal said that the CBSL has recommended eight policy measures to the Government, including that the electricity tariffs be hiked. “Why should the consumers be held responsible for the mismanagement of the CEB? We will take legal action to ensure that consumers do not suffer as a result of the proposed hikes,” said Dhammika. The CEB last revised its prices in 2014. The CEB has been increasingly reliant on thermal power plants in the recent past as water reserves for hydropower generation are on the decline due to the drought period, which is anticipated to last until May. As a result of the forex crisis in the country, Sri Lanka has been facing heavy diesel shortages which has forced the CEB to impose nearly seven-hour power outages on a daily basis on weekdays as it is finding it difficult to obtain fuel for its thermal power plants. Protests have been increasing around the country, demanding solutions to the power crisis, as multiple sectors continue to suffer due to the lengthy power outages. Meanwhile, the Electricity Users’ Association yesterday also warned that if the CEB proceeds with its plan to purchase emergency power from private power plants, it will take legal action. It was reported over the weekend that the CEB has made a request from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) last Thursday (3) to purchase 200 megawatts (MW) of emergency power, without a tender process. Furthermore, reports showed that CEB General Manager Dr. R. Abeysekera has stated that a need for emergency power purchases has arisen. “At a time of a massive diesel crisis, CEB’s General Manager is attempting to purchase emergency power. This is to be done without a tender process, in direct violation of the CEB Act,” Dhammika claimed yesterday at the press conference. In early February, then-Power Minister Gamini Lokuge presented a cabinet paper seeking approval for the purchase of 100 MW from one Ace Power Plant and 20 MW from another Ace Power Plant, and for the agreements to be signed for a period of three years. However, the Cabinet turned down this approval, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had instructed a revision of the term periods for the agreements, noting the high cost when power is purchased for a longer time. “When long-term agreements are signed, regardless of whether the emergency power is needed or not, a high capacity cost needs to be paid every month. This is a huge loss to the CEB,” said Dhammika. Multiple attempts by The Morning to contact CEB Chairman M.M.C. Ferdinando, Dr. Abeysekera, and Power Ministry Secretary Wasantha Perera proved futile yesterday.


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