Thread by @Economynext

.@pucslofficial hosts a Press Conference today in regard to a tariff revision submitted by the Ceylon Electricity Board in March 2022. Stay tuned for live updates.

#SriLanka #SLNews

The last tariff revision was received in 2014, which was a reduction of 25%, due to the exchange rate variations and electricity supply running on imported fossil fuels, Ceylon Electricity Board is in a "very bad financial situation", says Rohantha Abeysekera of CEB. #SLNews

"We need to go for a revision, we have presented our proposal following a tariff methodology published for 2021, in fact, it was published in November last year and we submitted the proposal in March," says Rohantha Abeysekera of CEB. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama Chief Engineer of CEB says in December 2021 the Generation License owned by the country was 72% but produced 76% of the total generation, functioning as the single buyer CEB owns 100% of the transmission license, and served a peak demand of 2,800 MW. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama Chief Engineer of @CebeuNews says, CEB owns 92% of the Distribution License and of the customer base in #SriLanka and has sold 89% of the total electricity generation excluding LECO. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama Chief Engineer of @CebeuNews, the major income-generating tariff category for CEB and LECO is the industrial, general purpose, and domestic, which is 1/3 of the total revenue. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama Chief Engineer of @CebeuNews, "The average cost of electricity per unit till May 2022 was 26.58 rupees. One domestic block is over and above the unit cost meaning that CEB is losing from each and every unit sold to the rest of the categories." #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews, The cost has always been higher than the selling point in many years except in 2013 and 2015. As per the fuel price and exchange rate fluctuations, budgets had been revised from March to June. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews says the cost forecast from March to May and along with the revenue generated currently is insufficient to cover the generation cost. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews says, "The present financial status of CEB is very unhealthy and the accumulated shortfall of revenue is 477 billion rupees since 2016. Subsidies are not reaching CEB as and when required." #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews says, "As a result of not getting sufficient tariffs and due subsidies to CEB, CEB is not paying its liabilities to major creditors. This has also affected short-term payables accumulating to 170 billion as of now." #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews says CEB has taken huge amounts of loans from various banks in Sri Lanka and LECO to fulfill the working capital requirements, such as debentures and project loans, and the total payable is 612 billion rupees. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews says, "Tariff revision is inevitable." #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews says, "Tariffs have been prepared according to the provisions of the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA)" #SLNews

The tariff was reduced in 2014 after the completion of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant and thus after the CEB has requested in many price revisions, says Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews. #SLNews

CEB is compelled to revise the tariff over and above 23.3% and CEB has submitted four tariff proposals as and when the fuel prices were increased, says Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews states the reasons why tariff proposals had been submitted by CEB, with the main proposal captures being fuel hikes and exchange rate variations. #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews states "For the benefit of the consumer CEB is not practicing Transmission Licensee Limited Liability and thus the final result is extended powercuts." #SLNews #PowerCutLK

"Even if CEB owns a set of cheap powerplants, maintenance delays due to financial crisis will add to the operational crisis. As of now, the Generation Licensee has 146 Letters of Credit (LCs) and 51 Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTs) at People's Bank worth $34 million." #SLNews

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews states that material is not available for distribution breakdowns and service connections. #SLNews #LKA

Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews states future expansion of power plants and networks has been held up and most financial lending agencies are unwilling to fund due to unsustainable debts.

"We have no money to do these." #SLNews

The unsustainable debts withheld by CEB has resulted in warning letters to be received by CPC, Banks and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, says Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews.

"Tariffs have to be implemented without subsidies," says Madhavi Kudaligama of @CebeuNews. #SLNews

Sec General Yohan Lawrence of Joint Apparel Association Forum Sri Lanka (JAAFSL) objects to the collection of revenue in US dollars as the supply of electricity is a local service and thus states that payments should be made in local currency. #SLNews

Sec General @YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL stated the document indicates that the off-peak tariff to the industrial sector will be increased from 6.85 rupees to 14.50 rupees which is a 113% increase and submitted that the increase is extraordinarily high and unjustified. #SLNews

@YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL said the initiative was brought forward to contract demand during peak hours, by increasing off-peak tariff by 113%, no longer provides incentives, and stated that it must be kept in mind that it is more expensive in terms of other operational expenses.

@YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL said narrowing the rate between the off-peak and day rate is no longer viable to businesses that are doing load shifting to off-peak and will continue to do the same. #SLNews

@YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL said the future export strategy to drive #SriLanka's exports to 8 billion is based on backward integration and will have a significant impact on the industry, thus proposing that the off-peak tariff will be increased to no more than 50%. #SLNews

.@YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL proposes that payments made by CEB to rooftop solar generation under the CEB net accounting and net plus scheme with the increasing cost of energy should follow an increase given to existing and new solar power generation. (1/2) #SLNews

.@YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL said as the apparel industry has made significant investments in these projects and submit increasing the present rate from 15.50 rupees and 22 rupees. (2/2) #SLNews

.@YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL said several member companies are yet to receive payments from CEB from January 2022. #SLNews

.@YohanLawrence3 of JAAFSL proposed that CEB increase tariffs and costs at two stages in order to aid in better enterprise planning. #SLNews

Manjula Perera proposes that action must be taken against people who put multiple electricity meters for the same house in order to have a lower bill. #SLNews

Sustainability Specialist, Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe says "I don't know how with this level of inaccurate tariff data, we can set the tariffs." @pucslofficial #SLNews

Sustainability Specialist, Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe says CEB lacks the capacity to understand its own cost and is unable to predict future costs. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews

Sustainability Specialist, Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe says "Tariffs based on current BSTs do not meet the requirements of the @pucslofficial Act." @CebeuNews #SLNews

"Basic requirements to determine reasonable and efficient costs including BSTAs, dispatch audits, and heat rate adjustments if the thermal plants are not met." - Sustainability Specialist, Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews

"If we had 1500MW of renewable energy this would have reduced the CEB generation cost by Rs 250 Billion (equivalent to the annual collection of CEB under the current tariff)." - Sustainability Specialist, Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews

"Cross subsidization is a matter of national policy and should be decided on by economists not engineers," Sustainability Specialist, Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews

"My proposal is to put fixed rates," says engineer Vajira Perera. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews

Vajira Perera, an engineer tells concessions given to religious establishments can be reduced. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews

Vajira Perera, an engineer tells the government sector electricity rates should increase. There is a lot of wastage there so people will be compelled to save. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews

People are asking to increase the selling rates of solar power units to incentive solar users, says Shiran Fernando of @CeylonChamber. @pucslofficial @CebeuNews #SLNews