Cabinet switches off proposal to hike electricity tariff again

Cabinet Co-Spokesperson and Minister Bandula Gunawardena yesterday assured that the proposal to further hike the electricity tariffs was not presented to the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on Monday.

Many groups have voiced their objection to the proposal, claiming that it would be unfair to electricity users who had already seen an average 75% hike in electricity tariff across the board in August 2022.

Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers had approved a rise in electricity rates to be implemented in two stages in January and June 2023, but this decision was not made public during the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing or in the statement that was released by the Government Information Department as part of the weekly Cabinet decisions.

However, a statement from the Parliament later noted that the request to increase the electricity tariff has received Cabinet approval, citing the existing tariff hike was not sufficient to cover the losses of the Ceylon Electricity Board. The decision was disclosed at the subcommittee on Identifying the Short and Medium-Term Programs related to Economic Stabilisation of the National Council held on 29 November 2022.

On 8 December, President Ranil Wickremesinghe who is also the finance minister declared that there was no alternative other than increasing the electricity tariff.

The President told Parliament that given the increased losses the Government was forced to take unpopular decisions.