The Ceylon Electricity Board has informed the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka of the need for a cost reflective tariff adjustment, citing that CEB is incurring additional costs to generate electricity due to the dry spell.

The CEB General Manager in a letter to the PUCSL noted that the CEB is already facing a loss of Rs. 33 billion due to the tariff reduction and, as per the present state of affairs, is heading towards a monumental loss.

Due to the arid weather conditions prevailing in many parts of the country, the production of hydropower has dropped significantly.

The Electricity Board points out to the Public Utilities Commission that, according to the forecast issued by the Department of Meteorology on the 7th of September, this situation may last until the month of October.

The CEB added that the average gross energy generation per day from the 1st of January to end of July 2023 was 44.15 GWh (Giga Watt Hours), and the average gross energy generation per day in August increased to 48.16 GWh.

The CEB General Manager pointed out that under such circumstances, the increased demand has to be met from thermal power generation by incurring additional costs.

The CEB is requesting the PUCSL to take appropriate action to fulfill the conditions given in the general policy guidelines for the electricity industry of the government.

CEB General Manager Rohan Seneviratne noted that the letter was addressed to inform about the CEBs difficulties, and not about a tariff hike.

He said any decision on a tariff hike must be made by the PUCSL.

However, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera announced on the 6th of September that there will be no revision of electricity tariffs until January 2024.

However, the CEB is now saying that after the Minister made these statements, the rainfall experienced, has completely changed.

The CEB stated that it did not rain as expected in the month of August and since it will not rain in the months of September and October as well, it had to depend on thermal power generation.