Kanchana justifies idea to increase electricity tariff

• Rejects claims on tariff hike by PUSCL; says Govt. has not proposed to recover CEB losses via tariff revision
• Clarifies new proposal for automatic cost-reflective tariff mechanism implementation, to ensure uninterrupted supply and recover cost 
• Points Rs. 56.90 per unit required to ensure uninterrupted supply in 2023 
• Says current tariff of 
• Rs. 29.14 per unit causes Rs. 423.5 b loss for CEB
• Asserts low electricity user categories are heavily subsidised, while high electricity users pay above-average prices 
• Opines every layer should be Rs. 56.90 per unit, a direct cash allowance for low-income families

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera yesterday justified that the electricity tariff should be further increased to ensure uninterrupted supply, whilst denying the statement made by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka.

“Government has not proposed to recover past losses of Ceylon Electricity Board from a tariff revision as stated by PUCSL. The proposal that was presented was for an automatic cost reflective tariff mechanism to be implemented to supply uninterrupted power and to recover the current cost of power supply,” he said via Twitter yesterday.

Last week, PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said that the CEB representatives have revealed that the tariff revision will be carried out to cover the current losses of the organisation. 

“The price revise cannot be done to recover a previous loss. The revision should be done based on the cost recovery manner. The PUCSL is against moves to increase electricity tariffs to cover the losses of the CEB, as the losses cannot be mitigated in this manner,” Ratnayake told journalist last week. 

However, the Minister Wijesekera of the view that the low electricity user categories are heavily subsidised, while the high electricity users pay above-average prices. 

As per the estimates of the CEB, to ensure uninterrupted power supply in 2023 Rs. 56.90 per unit is required and based on the current tariff Rs.29.14 is being charged per unit on average and it results in an estimated deficit of Rs. 423.5 billion.

“Lower layers are heavily subsidised and the top layer pays over the average cost of a unit to compensate a part of the subsidy. Balance subsidy is borne by the Treasury. My personal opinion is that every layer should be Rs. 56.90 per unit and a direct cash allowance for low-income families,” he asserted. 

The Minister noted that there are over 6.7 million (6,709,574) electricity users as per CEB billing data and among them over 1.46 million users (1,460,828) utilise 0-30 units per month and pay only Rs. 8 per unit. 

In addition, 1.68 million (1,683,172) electricity users utilise 30-60 units a month and pay only Rs. 10 per unit, whilst over 1.7 million users (1,702,515) utilise between 60-90 units per month and pay just Rs. 16 per unit.

He also said over 1.55 million (1,559,131) electricity users utilise 90-180 units a month and they pay Rs. 50 per unit and around 303,928 users utilise over 180 units per month for which they pay Rs. 75 per unit.