Only 7.29 percent of Sri Lanka’s 7.91 million electricity consumers will be affected by the tariff revision that took effect on Monday, Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka said, setting out the government’s counter to the trade-union backlash over the increase. Domestic users consuming between 0 and 180 units a month — 6,429,757 households — will see no increase, the minister said.
The revision was unavoidable, Karunathilaka argued, because actual second-quarter power generation costs have far exceeded the projections approved by the Public Utilities Commission. Diesel expenditure was initially forecast at Rs. 417 million but escalated to Rs. 6,257 million, while naphtha costs rose from Rs. 8,647 million to Rs. 11,686 million. Hydropower output is also expected to fall on insufficient rainfall, forcing more reliance on costlier fuel-based generation.
Total estimated generation costs for the current quarter have risen to Rs. 104,449 million from the earlier estimate of Rs. 77,432 million — an increase of Rs. 27,016 million — the minister said. That is what prompted the ministry to seek the 18 percent increase from the PUCSL.
A household consuming 210 units a month will see its monthly bill rise from Rs. 9,570 to Rs. 11,330, an increase of Rs. 1,760. Consumers using 240 units face a Rs. 2,210 rise, 270-unit users a Rs. 2,660 rise, and 300-unit users a Rs. 3,110 rise. Of the 49,906 electricity connections for religious institutions, 38,566 consume under 180 units and will not face an increase.
Karunathilaka also clarified that financial losses arising from coal-quality problems have not been folded into the tariff revision. Existing tender procedures already allow recovery of those losses from the suppliers responsible, he said, and the relevant action is being taken — a direct response to opposition criticism that consumers were paying for substandard coal imports.
Source: NewsFirst.
