The people are once again being told to tighten their belts. Electricity tariffs have gone up yet again, and as always, the public is expected to absorb the shock while State institutions trade blame and excuses.
This latest revision may officially spare 95 per cent of consumers on paper, but that does not mean they will escape its consequences. That is the deception at the heart of this announcement. In an economy still recovering from collapse, every increase in energy costs eventually spreads through the system. Households may not immediately see the increase in their own electricity bill if they use under 180 units, but they will certainly feel it in the price of food, rent, transport, tuition classes, groceries, medicine and services. Businesses do not operate in isolation. When electricity costs rise, consumers ultimately pay.
The Government wants credit for offering a Rs. 15 billion subsidy to cushion the impact. But where exactly does that money come from? It comes from taxpayers who are already overburdened by VAT hikes, income taxes, fuel prices, and a cost of living crisis that has never truly eased since the economic meltdown of 2022. This is not relief. It is merely shifting money from one pocket to another while presenting it as generosity.
More troubling is the growing sense that these tariff hikes are not acts of necessity alone, but consequences of years of incompetence, indecision, and institutional failure.
The Electricity Consumers’ Association has made serious allegations against both the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) and the Ceylon Electricity Board. If true, the public has every right to be angry. According to the ECA, the PUCSL repeatedly directed the CEB over the past three years to formalise fuel procurement agreements with the CPC. Those directives were allegedly ignored. Written instructions were reportedly issued, but no meaningful enforcement followed. The regulator, which exists precisely to prevent this kind of dysfunction, apparently stood by without taking legal or administrative action.
If this is accurate, then ordinary people are now paying higher electricity bills because State institutions failed to perform basic responsibilities.
The allegations go further. There are claims that Sri Lanka failed to properly develop fuel storage capacity, meaning fuel could not be purchased and stored when prices were lower. Instead, the country was forced into expensive purchases later, pushing generation costs higher. Once again, the cost of poor planning is being transferred directly to the public.
This has become the defining feature of governance in Sri Lanka. Failures at the top are socialised downward. The citizen pays for every mistake.
The most frustrating aspect is that none of these problems are new. Sri Lanka has spoken about energy reform, renewable energy expansion, and long-term generation planning for years. Yet progress remains painfully slow. Governments change, ministers change and officials change, but the same crisis repeats itself with exhausting predictability.
Successive administrations have promised a transition towards cheaper and cleaner renewable energy. Yet the country remains dangerously dependent on expensive thermal power generation and volatile fuel imports. When global oil prices rise or geopolitical tensions flare up, Sri Lanka immediately becomes vulnerable. That vulnerability is now reflected in electricity bills.
This is not merely an economic issue. It is a political failure.
The country cannot claim to be serious about economic recovery while continuing to operate with short-term thinking and institutional paralysis. Families are already struggling with stagnant wages and rising household expenses. Small- and medium-sized businesses remain under pressure. Many have not recovered from the financial devastation of the past few years. Yet policymakers continue to behave as though the public has an endless capacity to absorb hardship.
The public does not oppose reform. What people oppose is being punished for failures they did not create.
If institutions ignored warnings, failed to implement procurement agreements, neglected fuel storage planning and delayed renewable energy projects, then responsibility must be fixed publicly and transparently. We cannot continue operating under a system where no official is ever held accountable while citizens carry the financial burden.
Electricity is no longer a luxury. It is an essential service tied directly to daily survival, education, business, and quality of life. Constant tariff increases without meaningful structural reform will only deepen public frustration and erode trust further.
The people have sacrificed enough. What they now demand is competence, accountability, and leadership that plans beyond the next crisis instead of merely reacting after the damage is done.