• Penalty revision approved by CEB board: GM de Silva

 The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is to implement the recommendation made by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to decrease the penalty of Rs. 3,000 which the consumers have to pay for their electricity supply to be reconnected to Rs. 800, in the coming days.

At present, those who fail to make timely payments for the electricity bills, are often disconnected from service, and fined Rs. 3000 to reconnect, once their arrears are settled.

Alleging that the CEB had implemented the decisions to raise electricity tariffs within a short period of time, the Electricity Consumers' Association (ECA) recently questioned why the CEB had failed to implement the said recommendation made early this month?

When contacted by The Daily Morning, CEB's General Manager, Engineer, Dr. Narendra de Silva said that the PUCSL's recommendation would be implemented in the coming days. "When such a recommendation is received, the CEB's Board approval should be granted to it, and it was only a few days ago that it was granted. Accordingly, the decision will be implemented."

The PUCSL had made the recommendation in question in the wake of the electricity consumers lamenting that they find it difficult to pay Rs. 3,000 as a penalty to reconnect to the grid when electricity supply is disconnected, especially at a time when many find it difficult to settle the monthly electricity bills.

The ECA also charged that the process of disconnecting electricity supply to consumers who fail to pay their electricity bills on time had become a ‘mafia’. They alleged that the relevant contractors carry out disconnections in an unfair manner, even when the relevant bills have been settled through online platforms by the consumer, merely to increase the number of disconnections that they carry out.