The chairman of the Sri Lanka Public Utilities Commission, Janaka Ratnayake, expressed his views on the exorbitant 66 per cent rise in electricity tariffs since February 15, 2023.
Ratnayake also expressed his concern about the hardships that this increase in tariffs could cause for citizens and has urged the government to take steps to alleviate the burden.
He stated today that it is feasible to reduce the electricity charges by 30 per cent as electricity prices should also drop as a result of the reduction in demand for electricity, the depreciation of the dollar, and the reduction in the cost of fuel and coal.
The chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, Janaka Ratnayake, commented further in this regard as follows:
“The first three months of this year saw an 18% decline in demand for electricity compared to the first quarter of 2022. Due to the decrease in electricity demand, the cost of electricity generation and supply also decreases. It is now obvious that the Ceylon Electricity Board’s projection of this year’s electricity demand is inaccurate, whereas the estimate made by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka is correct. We suggested a 35 per cent fare increase since we anticipated a low level of demand. However, without taking this circumstance into account, the majority of the commission’s members agreed to the Ceylon Electricity Board’s request for a 60 per cent tariff rise. This discrepancy in the two projections points to the fact that the board did not consider all the necessary factors when making their estimation. This means that the board was not able to accurately predict the electricity demand, and therefore their proposal for a 60 per cent tariff rise cannot be justified.
“Since the actual electricity demand is lower than the estimated value of the Ceylon Electricity Board, the cost of electricity supply should also come down.”
The Chairman of the Sri Lanka Public Utilities Commission, Janaka Ratnayake, made it clear that the consumers of electricity should be able to gain a benefit right away from the decrease in the cost of coal, fuel oil, naphtha, and diesel used in energy generation.
