7 December 2022 06:09 pm Views - 1875
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is submerged in a huge financial crisis, and an increase in electricity consumption charges must be done to cover the cost of the board, CEB Chairman Nalinda Ilangakoon said.
He said this situation has arisen due to the fact that the CEB has provided a unit of electricity at a lower rate and has not systematically increased the electricity tariffs since 2013 parallel to the increase in costs.
He also mentioned that the Power and Energy Minister has given instructions to reduce the other expenses of the board.
Since the government has decided to provide 24-hour electricity supply from next year on, it is not possible to supply power continually without increasing tariffs. He said that increasing the electricity tariffs should be implemented jointly by the Public Utilities Commission and the Power and Energy Ministry.
The chairman also mentioned that the coal required for the power generation has been ordered as scheduled and that there is no serious issues with the supply of coal. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)