Concern over CEB tariff

Probably one of the best things that may have happened in recent times in relation to governance and transparency is the CEB decision to call for public representations on the new power tariff. On January 30 the CEB published the new rates effective from March 1 in the newspapers and called for representations, giving the public a month to respond.

This is a far cry from the days when such notices were published as a required ‘public’ notice in the government gazette. Who reads the gazette anyway? Many of these public notices fell on the wayside and drew little attention. In this context the CEB should be praised for this bold step. The 4-week period may be too short a period for representations although we are told the public has responded including one which we are carrying below where the writer provides a very rational view on pricing and suggests how to make it easier on the consumer while making sure the CEB doesn’t suffer any fall in revenue.

Having said that, The Sunday Times’ comprehensive analysis of the new rates in last week’s newspaper reflect growing public concern over this additional burden to the people’s ever-increasing cost of living. Inflation is seen rising sharply with this fresh set of tariff increases which would set a chain reaction in the area of public consumption. Central Bank officials however contend that inflation will taper off by July as these are one-off increases mainly due to the removal of the subsidy.

While the CEB says the new rates have been forced on consumers owing to the absence of the state fuel subsidy, there is still public suspicion as to whether the rates that consumers pay are still on the higher side to take care of all the bad debts of the CEB and the mess by previous administrations.

There are many ways in which fluctuating fuel prices can be cushioned by long term purchases and proper management of resources. In the CEB case, it is public knowledge that the institution is drowning in debt and is now forced to turn to consumers to ‘save its skin (or the hides of thick officials)’. For various reasons over more than a decade, unions and others have stalled much needed reforms – for reasons best known to them - to take the institution out of the red. While this battle goes on, the consumer suffers; be it a home user or commercial user.

However another sorely disappointing feature is the silence of the professional community including the OPA, economists and the chambers of commerce on this issue.

It was nice to see the chamber heads finally raising their heads and coming out into the open and raising concerns over delays in the formation of the Constitutional Council with a widely-published picture of a meeting with JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe.

Yet for a sector (private and SMEs) that will be hit badly by the rising power rates and cost to manufacturing, the silence of the chambers and manufacturers – through organized groups – is unbelievable or have there been meetings with the government where they have raised these concerns that we are not aware of?

Undoubtedly it’s not sustainable for state utilities to live on handouts and sink deeper into debt. The only option is to remove the subsidies or provide targeted subsidies. But given the fact that consumers are reeling until rising costs, another blow like this is hard to cushion particularly when there appears to be other ways of raising CEB revenue without overburdening the public.

Is it also fair to pass on these added costs to consumers when other privileged ‘classes’ like government ministers and their lackeys get heavily subsidised fuel and fleets of duty free vehicles—not to mention the long, waiting time on roads with engines on (AC as its extremely warm these days) when VVIPs pass and when the less fortunate like you and me have to ‘get out’ just like during the British colonial era when plantation workers jumped into drains or cowered in fear on roadsides as the ‘dreaded’ estate superintendent or PD (periya doras) passed!

If we cut down on state tamashas, switch off unnecessary street lights burning away during the day and cut down sharply on fuel wastage, the public need not take hits as severe as these.

The saving grace however, we are told – whether it will be done or not is another question – is that the government will consider public representation and make changes if so desired in the new rates.