• Energy Minister says CPC supplying fuel below prevailing market price  
• Fuel purchase agreement dispute remains unresolved 

The Electricity Generation Lanka (EGL) Private Limited Company is currently being provided fuel for electricity generation at a price Rs 25 below the prevailing market price under a concessionary arrangement, Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka said.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (10), he said the arrangement was based on a mechanism that had existed previously and had now been revisited to continue providing fuel to EGL at a concessionary rate.

“The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is currently providing fuel at Rs 25 less than the prevailing price. That was a mechanism that existed previously. We discussed it further and put the mechanism in place again,” he said.

His comments come amid a reported dispute over fuel purchasing arrangements between EGL and CPC, with the Electricity Consumers’ Association (ECA) recently claiming that EGL had failed to enter into a fuel purchasing agreement with CPC even after the deadline imposed by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) had expired.

ECA General Secretary Sanjeewa Dhammika said that one of the conditions attached to the latest electricity tariff revision required EGL to enter into fuel purchase agreements with CPC. He also said that the PUC had confirmed that the period given to EGL to complete the agreement had already expired.

It was previously reported that discussions were continuing between EGL and CPC, with the two parties remaining divided over dealer margins included in fuel prices. EGL had reportedly requested the removal of dealer margins on fuel purchased for electricity generation, but CPC had maintained that such a concession could not be granted because EGL functions as a direct fuel consumer.