The government will not request an electricity tariff increase from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) until September, Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka told Parliament on Wednesday.
Karunathilaka was responding during oral questions to a query from MP Ravi Karunanayake about the impact of a weakening rupee and the Middle East crisis on power-sector costs. The Minister said the present government had no plans to seek PUCSL approval for a further hike before September.
He said the direct impact of the most recent tariff revision was concentrated on households consuming more than 180 units of electricity per month. To shield other consumer categories, the government had absorbed a subsidy of Rs. 15 billion, he added.
The statement gives consumers and industry a short window of price certainty after a turbulent twelve months for electricity pricing. Earlier this year, the annual tariff formula shifted the country to scheduled annual revisions, and a low-consumption subsidy was introduced for the smallest household users. The minister had earlier estimated that only 7.29 percent of consumers were directly affected by the latest revision, while opposition critics highlighted the bill-shock impact on those households above the 180-unit threshold.
Any future revision request would now be made by the National System Operator (NSO), the CEB successor entity that has taken over generation dispatch and tariff submissions to the PUCSL. The September timing also lands after the southwest monsoon season, when hydropower output is typically replenished by reservoir inflows — a factor that has consistently shaped recent tariff filings.
Source: Ada Derana.
