"So actions to promote renewable energy, actions to promote energy conservation steps, actions to price energy cannot be ignored," Jayasundera said.
"[It] cannot be postponed either. We can stagger it, but the direction needs to be clearly recognized."
Jayasundera himself has played a role in getting Chinese finance to fast track coal power which is the cheapest source of energy after large hydro power.
. Most renewable energy sources - in addition to being dependent on weather - are also more expensive than coal and have built in escalation clauses.
Last year Sri Lanka tumbled into a balance of payments crisis due to large volumes of credit taken by state energy enterprises to manipulate energy prices amid a drought and rising global oil prices.
Sri Lanka's key renewable energy source, hydro dried up requiring more thermal energy from expensive imported oil and cheaper coal.
State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation ran up losses as it subsidized state-run Ceylon Electricity Board. The CEB also delayed payments to independent power producers forcing them also to take credit.The CPC was also owed money by state-run SriLankan Airlines, which ran up losses of over 150 million US dollars in 2011.
The Central Bank which did not allow interest rates to rise in the face of rising credit demand, instead injected newly created money into the banking system, putting pressure on a currency peg and losing foreign reserves.
Sri Lanka's rulers also subsidize diesel in the weird belief that inflation is diesel related and not monetary. By the first quarter of 2012, CEB was unable to even pay the Treasury the taxes it collected from over-priced petrol.
In February energy prices were jacked up, interest rates raised and the exchange rate was allowed to move in line with monetary policy. The rupee then fell from 110 to 134 and has since recovered to 128.50 to the US dollars.
Though Sri Lanka was under an International Monetary Fund backed program to keep the deficit to 6.2 percent of gross domestic product, which would have allowed the exchange rate and inflation to remain low, off-budget spending de-railed the country.
The two energy enterprises ran up losses of about 1.5 percent of GDP making nonsense of a central government deficit of 6.2 percent.
IMF resident representative Koshy Mathai responding to an audience at a pre-budget seminar at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said while there could be inefficiencies, high generation costs were a key problem with power in particular which took time to rectify.
"There was a benchmark - that is to say target not a binding commitment - that those enterprises would be brought to a break-even position," Mathai said.
"Obviously that did not happen due to a combination of reasons. We can only hope that reforms are made to facilitate that."
There are expectations that Sri Lanka's Public Utilities Commission will be regulating petroleum prices from next year. Though the PUC is supposed to adjust power prices every six months, it can be overruled by populist political action.
If monthly fuel adjustments and quick power tariff adjustment are made, analysts say balance of payments pressure can be largely avoided in the future and inflation can be kept low as in developed countries where fuel prices change daily.
Analysts say ruler energy price manipulations have played a part in all of Sri Lanka's balance of payments crises.
Oil, metals, food and other globally traded commodity prices typically go up when monetary policy in reserve country central banks principally the Federal Reserve is loose and such currencies 'depreciate' against commodities.
Sri Lanka came up with an automatic pricing formula after CPC and CEB ran up large losses triggering a balance of payments crisis in 1999/2000 but it was abandoned four years later under an economic strategy devised by a Marxist politician called 'removing the plug'.
In 2008 the CPC lost money on oil derivatives as it tried to manipulate oil prices.
Corrected para 9 and 12 to CPC
"The CPC was also owed money by state-run SriLankan Airlines"
"CEB was unable to even pay the Treasury the taxes it collected from over-priced petrol."
"State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation ran up losses as it subsidized state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation" These may edited soon please. Also the statement "Most renewable energy sources - in addition to being dependent on weather - are also more expensive than coal and have built in escalation clauses."
In this one has to make note that Imported Coal Price also escalates due to Asian coal price and $ equivalent. When every time the Coal Plant fails it takes several days to repair and this leads to Power cut and use of very expensive Private Power. When all these costs to the country are added to the cost of coal power then most of the Alternative renewable become cheaper as they do not have any fuel costs.
CEB abandoned the monthly varying fuel adjustment clause to keep a stable price to the industrialist on political pressure. When all prices are varying the industrialist also understand electricity price will also fluctuate and must must plan there pricing formula of there products. There complaint was that there product lose there competitiveness in the world market. At least the non industrial customers can have a variable FAC in there tariff.