The government yesterday claimed that the Cabinet of Ministers are yet to receive a response from the power regulator Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) on the Cabinet decision to increase electricity tariff with effect from 1st of this month.

The Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister of Transport and Highways and Minister of Mass Media Bandula Gunawardana stressed that PUCSL has so far failed to respond to the Cabinet decision which was taken last week, which requested inputs from PUCSL to implement the electricity tariff hike.

According to PUCSL, it has already submitted its response in a detailed letter to the Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers (copied to Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Secretary to the Ministry of Power) on 13th of this month.

Meanwhile, Gunawardana stressed that the only path to maintain power cuts at a minimum level is to increase the electricity tariffs as the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is struggling to settle Rs.325 billion owed to its suppliers.

As of this month, CEB owed Rs.106 billion to Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Rs.50 billion to renewable energy players, Rs.5 billion to rooftop solar providers and Rs.90 billion to private sector thermal power plants. 

Further, CEB also needs another Rs.31.6 billion for a coal shipment in February.

In addition, CEB is also faced with Rs.5 billion additional expenditure to provide uninterpreted power supply during the 14-day Ordinary Level examination period.

Gunawardana warned that the country could face long power cuts if the proposed cost-reflective electricity tariffs are not implemented.