By Yohan Perera   

The much-awaited electricity tariff reduction was announced  by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lankan (PUCSL) yesterday.   

PUCSL Chairman Professor Manjula Fernando told a briefing  that the decision made by the commission will be notified to the Ceylon  Electricity Board (CEB) shortly.  The percentage of reduction is varied for domestic, religious places, hotels and industries and general purposes.   

The tariff for domestics who use less than 30 units is  reduced by 33 per cent, for those who use between 31 to 60 units by 28 per cent, users of 61 to 90 units by 30 per cent, , and users of 91 to 180 units  24 per cent. Tariff for religious places is reduced by 33 per cent, hotels  and industries by 18 per cent and general purposes by 23 per cent.   

Accordingly, the tariff for those who use less than 30  units is reduced to Rs 8 per unit from Rs 12, those who use 31 to 60  units to Rs 20 from Rs 30 while the tariff for the first 60 units will  be reduced to Rs 25 from Rs 38. The tariff for those who use 60 to 90  units will be reduced to Rs 30 from Rs 41, while the new tariff for  those who uses between 90 to 120 units will be Rs 50. The earlier tariff  for this category was 59. The new tariff for those who use between 120  to 180 units is reduced by a similar percentage. The new tariff for  those who use more than 180 units will be reduced to Rs 75 from Rs 89.     

PUCSL has requested the CEB to settle the due amount to the renewable energy suppliers before March 31.