Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is likely to increase the electricity tariff after eight years with the consent of the cabinet of ministers to day (Monday 05), CEB sources said.
The Public Utilities Commission has submitted the proposed electricity tariff structure to the treasury for observations on providing subsidy follow income earners and necessary revisions recently.
The CEB was now losing Rs 13 per unit and a tariff increase has been sought to raise Rs 14 billion in extra revenues, the relevant memorandum indicated.
For the lowest category the per unit rate of Rs 5.50 had been proposed from the current Rs. 2.50 and the fixed fee will go up to Rs 290 from Rs. 30 .
According the memorandum electricity tariff for factories will be increased by 38 percent, hotels 23 percent and state institutions 22 percent.
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is on the verge of collapse and it was trying trying to obtain an overdraft from a state bank to pay employees’ wages CEB sources said.
CEB Chairman M.M.C. Ferdinando noted that t there was an urgent need to increase the electricity tariffs as the Board was now struggling to pay the salaries of its employees.
“It has been observed the CEB is currently incurring a loss of over Rs. 300 billion per year as its expenditure had now increased to over Rs. 500 billion, while revenue is around Rs. 200 billion.
