Chairman of Public Utility Commission Janaka Ratnayake reiterated that if the proposal presented by the cabinet to increase electricity tariffs is ambiguous, and done in a wrongful manner it will be completely rejected and nullified.
He says that he cannot agree to the present proposal of increasing the electricity tariffs of the poorest strata by 1200 per cent going outside the ambit of the scope and contrary to the law of the country and getting reprehensible interpretations from the Attorney General.
The chairman said that the government is committing a monumental mistake of politically destroying independent commissions at a time when the country needs more independent commissions and said that the Public Utility Commission has the strength, knowledge and understanding to overcome the challenges ahead.
“Let’s see how the proposal will come,” said the chairman.
He also said:
The Public Utilities Commission has been confronted with a challenging position. I also do a lot of media publishing. This is an independent institution. The political authority has been working to destroy that independence in the past.. A historical mistake is going to be made. It is not that time to put pressure on this independent institution at a time when such independent institutions are needed.
The latest issue is, we know that the method of increasing the electricity tariff is prescribed in the Electricity Act and the Public Utilities Act.
However, a wrong interpretation has been given by the Attorney General contrary to the stipulated legal procedures and a scheme for increasing electricity is being prepared according to that interpretation.
I discussed this with the members of the commission in this regard. We do not expect to sanction such acts.
The reason is that it has been 4 months since the electricity bill was increased. Raised in August. Should the previous change be made again when the country is in decline like this? What are the underlying reasons for that? Based on what the factors are, my personal opinion is that this is not the case. That is also the view of the top management.
“The reason for that is that there is a very unfair method of increasing the electricity bill that has been put into the cabinet. The reason for that is that this has been proposed to increase the electricity of the five million consumers of the country who consume electricity sparingly.
“The electricity bill is going to be increased by 1200 per cent for 1.7 million people who consume between 0-30 units. The new system includes a method to collect more than 100 billion from customers who use less than 120 units next year. It is completely against the fair distribution of tariff policies. It is not something that should be done.
