Over 1Mn power disconnections last year: Parliamentary Committee reveals

24 February 2024 08:22 am Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 15 Bookmark

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Colombo, Feb. 24 (Daily Mirror)- More than one million power disconnections have been imposed within the past year throughout the country, a parliamentary committee has revealed.

It was revealed when the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Alleviating the Impact of the Economic Crisis chaired by MP Gamini Waleboda met in the parliament complex on Thursday.

Chairman Waleboda said it was revealed that some 10,69,000 power disconnections were reported last year.

He said the Committee instructed the respective officials to provide some relief to the consumers whose connections were disconnected, which included cutting down the re-connection fee by 50 per cent and to allow the outstanding bill to be paid in instalments.

He said instructions were also given to formulate a mechanism to provide new connections on credit basis and pay the full connection fee in instalments with the electricity bill.

The MP said the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Finance Ministry and Central Bank, Department of Census and Statistics were present for the meeting.

Comments - 15

Manjula Saturday, 24 February 2024 08:44 AM

Fair enough. We consumers need to learn to pay our bills on time. I personally know those who were disconnected and feel for their inconvenience. However we need to be better disciplined. All former regimes are complicit in nurturing bad habits among our people, including consuming more than we can afford and wasting resources while they were heavily subsidized. It is incredible how households have now conserved unit consumption, which means that they were careless while it was made dirt cheap via subsidies. The same can be said of water. I know many who decided to get leaking taps repaired, only after the cost reflective pricing was introduced. The same can be said of fuel usage. I know of people doing business using technology and cutting down travel to distant workplaces. They now realise that they are in fact more productive and cost efficient. Cost reflective pricing breeds good consumption behaviors in the medium long term.

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Sokrates Saturday, 24 February 2024 10:04 AM

Somehow it doesn't add up that in Sri Lanka you have to pay three times as much in electricity costs but only earn a third than in the surrounding countries.

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Manjula Saturday, 24 February 2024 10:33 AM

I agree with Sokrates, that Sri Lanka's cost is way too high. Inefficiencies are most likely to contribute towards that, and also the generation mix. Hopefully the generation mix will change over the next few years if the obstructionists within the CEB are taken care of. One way of bringing to he surface the embedded inefficiencies, wastage and corruption vulnerabilities is to unbundle the behemoth and flash the torch on the specific areas that need to be tackled. All this needs strong leadership, hopefully we will have persons who will rise to the occasion and take the bull by the horns. Our electricity output and pricing is a millstone around economic expansion.

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Nimal Saturday, 24 February 2024 09:25 AM

No wonder that, that moron spokesperson of the Ceylon Electricity Board wanted us to use bottle lamps.

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Sokrates Saturday, 24 February 2024 10:00 AM

The CEB probably provided some oil lamps as a relief to the consumers whose connections were disconnected.

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Joshua Saturday, 24 February 2024 10:24 AM

Not one disconnection of politicians i suppose.

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Jayantha Saturday, 24 February 2024 10:43 AM

Economy will never recover and become stable with high electricity and water costs. Economy will further shrink when more and more shifts businesses to low cost countries. Also see how many people are disconnecting prepaid tv connections and going for old antenna method. Economy is collpsing gradually.

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Rishan Saturday, 24 February 2024 12:02 PM

Does CEB treat each and every single consumer the same way irrespective of the position held???

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Spartacus Saturday, 24 February 2024 12:20 PM

These are all normal ordinary citizens. Never has CEB hench-aiya's have the guts to walk up to a residence of a high state official and disconnect them. Utter bullshit.

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Marie Antonnette Saturday, 24 February 2024 01:39 PM

Eat cake if you don’t have bread. Use a kerosene lamp if you don’t have electricity

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Sammy Saturday, 24 February 2024 03:54 PM

It is the politicians who mismanaged the economy and looted which resulted in sudden electricity tariff hikes and cost of living, who should share the burden.

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Paramanathan K Saturday, 24 February 2024 09:03 PM

One million disconnections of CEB supply are a significant concern, attributable to the mistakes made by the ministry and CEB in implementing multiple electricity tariff increases. These increases were justified using reasons not related to consumer fault. A more alarming aspect is the absence of accountability for the serious lapses on the part of the ministry and CEB. Commissions earned during fossil fuel imports may have further raised production costs. What about the overtime claims by CEB staff? In this way, both the CEB and the ministry have failed to ensure electricity supply at a nominal cost.

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VOTER Saturday, 24 February 2024 10:33 PM

SHOW YOUR DISSATISFACTON AT THE COMING ELECTIONS. THROW-THEM-OUT BY LOCK STOCK

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Buddhist Sunday, 25 February 2024 08:16 PM

Will the Speaker have the guts to ask the Minister to provide the names of the Parliamentarians who have not paid their bills and if their connections have been cut or not?

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Tissa Fernando Sunday, 25 February 2024 10:10 PM

CEB costs are staggering due to decades of inefficient, fraudulent and mismanaged activities. Coming out of this situation requires tough choices to be made. One of those is to fire excessive staff.

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