The government
is making further concessions to consumers of electricity who got huge bills
after the lockdown ended. At their weekly meeting today, the Cabinet of
Ministers considered several consumer concessions proposed by Power and Energy
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera and agreed to reduce electricity bills by 25 per
cent in March, April and May when electricity consumers consumed electricity
units between 0-90 units.
Co-cabinet
spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said they would give those consumers a three-month
grace period to pay up and they will incur no disconnections or late fees. He
said Amaraweera had told the cabinet that this relief package would provide a
direct advantage to around 73 per cent of in-house electricity consumers.
However, he said
this relief package will cause a massive loss to the Ceylon Electricity Board
(CEB) but would provide relief to those affected by COVID-19. However, despite
the damages to be borne by the CEB and other providers, he said the President,
the Prime Minister and cabinet members discussed further on giving more relief
to electricity consumers.
Gunawardena said
Minister Amaraweera asked to find out any further relief that consumers could
receive through this package, such as raising the 25 per cent reduction to 120
units and presenting it to the cabinet next week for approval. He said the
relief measures that he has already granted would not change, but it will not
be the final decision on relief for consumers of electricity.
The state
regulatory body, the Sri Lankan Public Utilities Commission (PUCSL), had
proposed a formula for the CEB and the other provider Lanka Electric Company Ltd.
to apply to reduce bills that became inflated when meter readers were unable to
operate during the lockdown.
LECO has already
implemented the formula, and its subscribers were granted the concessions as of
this month. It is not known whether the relief measures proposed at the cabinet
meeting yesterday would also extend to LECO customers.
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