• Petition highlights the economic hardship caused by rising electricity costs

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda  

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking an order directing the authorities to reduce the prices of electricity costs and tariffs.  

In his petition, the Opposition Leader stated that the observations made by Parliament Sectoral Oversight Committee Office has revealed that at least 800,000 electricity connections have been disconnected over the past three quarters due to the public being unable to pay irrationally high-priced electricity costs and tariffs.  
He further stated that the persistent mismanagement has resulted in the increase in the new electricity costs forcing small, medium and large-scale producers and manufacturing industries to downsize their production and the threat of complete shutdown due to the inability to pay such increased electricity tariffs. 

 
He further maintained that the Parliament Sectoral Oversight Committee have revealed that there has been an incorrect estimation of hydropower generation, incorrect calculation of coal and thermal generation, faulty forecasts of electricity demand, inefficiencies in the coordination between institutions resulting in the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka making a faulty decision in increasing electricity tariff in October 2023.  

The petitioner cited Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, Ceylon Electricity Board, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka and the Attorney General as respondents.