Power Minister Anura Karunathilaka has acknowledged that the government’s 18% electricity tariff hike will have an indirect impact on consumers across the economy, even as he insisted the direct effect on the majority of electricity users remains limited, the Daily FT reported.
Addressing the media, the minister said most households will not see an immediate increase in their bills, but higher tariffs imposed on industrial and commercial users are likely to be passed through to the prices of goods and services. The admission represents a shift from the government’s earlier framing that only 7.29% of consumers would feel a direct increase, with 6.43 million households exempt under the under-180-unit category.
The 18% revision, which took effect this week, has triggered a sustained consumer and opposition backlash. Industrial users — which collectively consume the majority of grid electricity — face the largest tariff increase, and economists have warned that the second-order effect on food processing, manufacturing, transport and retail will reach the household level even if the per-kilowatt-hour residential rate is unchanged for low-consumption customers.
The minister’s “indirect impact” admission lands in the same week that Central Bank Deputy Governor Dr. Chandranath Amarasekara defended the broader stabilisation path against calls for reform reversals, and as the SJB pursues fuel price reductions in parliament. The National System Operator (NSO) has cited diesel and naphtha thermal generation costs as the principal driver behind the revised tariff filing.
