CEB submits proposal to revise electricity tariffs to PUCSL

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera announced that the proposal of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to revise electricity tariffs on 1 July has been handed over to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) yesterday.

The move came after the PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake demanded an immediate 20% reduction in electricity tariff citing a drop in demand, lower exchange rate and fuel prices as compelling and justifiable reasons for such a move.

Taking to Twitter he said the CEB submitted the proposal according to the Government’s policy decision and tariff-filling requirements to adjust the tariffs biannually on 1 January and 1 July.

Minister Wijesekera noted that the CEB has taken into consideration the actual generation data, the actual price of inputs, the generation mix and the forecast for 2023.

He said according to the proposal, the CEB has given the maximum benefit of adjustments to low-consumption users.

Ratnayake last week revealed that according to the tariff requested by CEB on 5 January, CEB had estimated an electricity demand of 16,520 GWh for 2023, expecting a revenue of Rs. 722 billion from energy sales.

However, PUCSL forecasted a generation demand of 15,031.42 GWh for 2023. “Our demand forecast has been proven right by actual demand for January to April and reduced demand forecasted by CEB for the rest of the year. According to CEB’s revised demand forecast, total demand for the year 2023 will be 15,377 GWh which is very close to the demand that we forecasted early this year,” Ratnayake pointed out.

As per Ratnayake, the latest forecast by CEB shows a reduction of 6% from the initial forecast on 5 January. “Actual data shows in months March and April, the actual generation to be 10% and 8% less than the initial forecast by CEB,” he added.

Accordingly, the latest forecast is also on the higher side and actual demand for 2023 can be even lower.

“Therefore, the actual total revenue of 2023 for the distribution licensees could be lower than Rs. 658 billion. If we were able to implement PUCSL’s staff-recommended low tariff hike, we wouldn’t need frequent tariff revisions and such low tariff will ensure and stimulate the economic activities while ensuring CEBs yield sufficient revenue,” Ratnayake told journalists last week.