By Ajith Siriwardana  

The Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has been informed by a Parliamentary Committee to instruct the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to reduce the electricity tariffs so as to disseminate CEB’s massive profit within three months starting from January 2024.  

The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Alleviating the Impact of the Economic Crisis in a letter to the PUCSL Chairman also requested the PUCSL to introduce a special reasonable pricing system to benefit families living in poverty.  

The Committee revealed that the CEB had earned an additional profit of Rs. 52 billion during the year 2023 due to increase in electricity tariffs and generation of hydroelectricity exceeding the estimate for the year.  It said the CEB had earned Rs. 26 billion due to increase in hydroelectricity generation and reduction in electricity demand estimate for the year while Rs. 26 billion had been earned due to increase in electricity tariff by 18 percent.  

The Committee has recommended that the cost-effective pricing system should be introduced for electricity pricing as recommended by the IMF.  It has also informed the PUCSL to take steps on priority basis to resolve the issues of the family units and other sectors whose electricity supply had been disconnected.  

The letter further said that the PUCSL had accepted the data and figures provided by the CEB to justify the request to increase the electricity tariff as it is despite the contradictions in the data and figures. The Committee said it observed that the approval given by the PUCSL to increase the electricity tariffs in October 2023 was not correct.