Sri Lanka’s electricity consumers are being called onto bear the cost of street lights under a government plan to add 2 % as a hidden charge in their electricity bills.
At present the Treasury is offsetting the massive cost of Rs.2.6 billion annually to maintain 700,000 street lights countrywide because local authorities are not paying this money to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and to the Lanka Electricity Company, Finance Ministry sources said.
In a bid to address the power wastage issue, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka has proposed that street lights be lit from 7 p.m. till 5 a.m. According to Mr. Ranawaka, the proposal made by him to the local government bodies would help address the power crisis as well as to curtail CEB expenses and its losses on street lights.
The cost for street lights in Colombo alone is Rs.191.3 million which the Treasury pays.
The government reportedly spends Rs. 200 per day to maintain a 250kw street light. According to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), a slight increase in electricity tariffs is to be introduced in order to tackle the losses incurred by the CEB due to the increase in thermal power generation.
However, the increase will be quite low and is not likely to be effective to all sectors, according to the PUCSL. The PUCSL is now in the process of preparing the proposals to find solutions to the financial crisis at the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and other power providers. The proposals are to be handed over to the Treasury shortly. |
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