Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka told Parliament on Thursday that electricity tariffs will not need to rise this year, and questioned why the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka went ahead with a public hearing on a tariff revision the system operator is no longer asking for.
He described the Commission’s decision to proceed as a waste of public funds, the Daily Mirror reported.
The hearing would merely give “certain opposition politicians, defeated politicians and some YouTubers” an opportunity to express their views, the Minister said.
“We wonder whether the decision to hold public consultations was taken by the members of the Commission or its officials. People with vested interests may express various opinions. However, the Government and institutions in the electricity sector work for the benefit of the people. Based on available data and forecasts, we see no need for another electricity tariff increase this year,” he said.
Karunathilaka acknowledged that the PUCSL Act provides for public hearings in the public interest, but questioned the need for one once the National System Operator had said no increase was required.
What the operator told the regulator
The NSO submits projected generation costs to the Commission quarterly. In a letter dated 6 October, the Minister said, it reported that the projected cost had fallen from Rs 129 billion to Rs 125 billion, removing the need for a revision.
At Thursday’s stakeholder consultation the operator repeated that it would not seek an increase for the October–December quarter, citing reservoir storage levels and forecasts of above-normal rainfall under prevailing El Niño conditions.
The Island reported the same reversal, noting it is a significant shift from the NSO’s original request for a 2.88% increase, which the Commission had already cut to a preliminary 1.46%. PUCSL Director of Communications Jayanath Herath said a final decision is expected within six days of the consultation.
The final word rests with the PUCSL, which determines tariffs. That is the point the Minister’s criticism runs into: the hearing is the statutory step before a determination, and the operator’s revised position is evidence before it rather than a withdrawal of the review.
A figure that does not yet reconcile
The Minister’s Rs 129 billion starting point does not match the figures in the Commission’s own consultation document, which this desk reported on Thursday. That document puts the operator’s latest bulk supply cost forecast at Rs 125.94 billion, submitted on 7 October, down from Rs 134.16 billion on 4 September.
The endpoints agree at roughly Rs 125–126 billion. The baseline and the date do not, and “generation cost” and “bulk supply cost” are not the same measure. Neither filing reconciles them, and no figure is asserted here beyond what each source states.
The Island puts total fourth-quarter supply costs at Rs 157.3 billion against revenue of about Rs 154 billion; the consultation document gives Rs 156.66 billion against Rs 154.03 billion.
Not reported
Neither outlet carries any response from the PUCSL to the Minister’s remarks, names the members or officials whose decision he questioned, or reports what was said at the consultation by anyone other than the operator.