The Free Trade Zone Manufacturers’ Association of Sri Lanka (FTZMA) has called on the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to use the current Extraordinary Electricity Tariff Review as the moment to operationalise power wheeling under Section 13 of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act, No. 36 of 2024.
The Association presented its position formally at the Commission’s public consultation at the BMICH on Tuesday. FTZMA Chairman Dhammika Fernando told the Commission the industrial base was “not asking the Government for a single rupee” — only for the regulator to activate a market-based mechanism Parliament has already enacted, and that every regional manufacturing competitor already provides to its industries.
Power wheeling — internationally known as “open access” or the direct power purchase agreement mechanism — is the right of an industrial consumer to buy electricity directly from an independent renewable generator and have it delivered through the national grid against a transparent regulated charge. The legal framework is already in place: Section 13 of the 2024 Act expressly provides for it, and the principal provisions came into operation on 9 March 2026 with the corporate restructuring of the former CEB into six successor companies, including a separate transmission company.
What remains is for the Energy Minister to bring Section 13 into operation by gazette and for the PUCSL to issue the regulatory framework — wheeling charge methodology, eligibility criteria, technical code and standard agreements.
In its written and oral submissions, FTZMA asked the Commission to issue the regulatory framework within 90 days; to formally recommend gazette operationalisation to the Energy Minister; and to coordinate with the new National Transmission Network Service Provider and the National System Operator to publish indicative wheeling charges so industrial consumers and renewable developers can begin commercial discussions. It also asked that any extraordinary tariff increase be made time-bound with a transparent true-up mechanism.
The Association argued the move would save foreign exchange — every unit wheeled from a domestic solar, wind or mini-hydro generator is a unit the National System Operator does not need to generate from imported coal or fuel oil — while giving manufacturers access to the verifiable green-energy credentials increasingly demanded by international buyers, and giving renewable developers a second route to market beyond the queue-based national procurement process.
FTZMA invited the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the National Chamber of Exporters, SLASSCOM, the Hotels Association, the Joint Apparel Association Forum and other sister chambers to add their voice in support of Section 13’s prompt operationalisation, calling it a matter of national economic interest that transcends sectoral boundaries.
Source: Daily FT.
