Former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission Janaka Ratnayake said his projection that the CEB’s expenditure for 2023 would be Rs. 575 billion has been proven correct.
Therefore, electricity tariffs should be reduced accordingly, he said.
The CEB made a wrong claim of Rs. 720 billion expenditure for the current year when it asked the PUCSL for an electricity tariff early this year.
He said he calculated correctly and approved a 35 per cent increase for the entire year.
However, the CEB’s proposal was implemented, with the result being that it earned undue and huge profits.
After 11 months, the actual expenditure has come to be known, which totals nearly Rs. 575 billion only.
The two tariff hikes this year were not made as per the CEB’s actual expenditure, causing grave harm to the economy, closing factories, reducing consumption etc., he said.
At least now, that profit should be passed onto the consumers, and also action taken against the officials responsible for the wrong calculations, he added.
