Sri Lanka to Slash Electricity Tariffs: Government’s New Proposal Awaits PUCSL Approval

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara announced yesterday that the government plans to lower electricity rates by a larger margin than initially suggested and will soon present the revised proposal to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL).

In a statement to parliament, he explained that the original proposal from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) accounted for expenses to catch up on four years’ worth of delayed maintenance within this fiscal year. However, the government has directed the CEB to exclude these costs from this year’s financial plan and instead distribute the maintenance budget over the next three years.

Minister Wijesekara further mentioned that the CEB is preparing a new electricity tariff proposal, taking into account feedback received during the PUCSL’s public hearings and suggestions from various stakeholders, including university engineers, on how to adjust the tariffs.

He added that the CEB aims to finalize its proposal revisions by Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Once completed, these adjustments will be submitted to the PUCSL for a final decision on the tariff changes.