Category: Power

Apr 15, 2013 (LBO) – Despite decades of propaganda by elected rulers about ‘the government bearing the burden’ some citizens are seeing through the subsidy deception, comments by electricity consumers at a public hearing on a tariff hike showed.He said two state banks were also in trouble because of heavy lending to fund subsidies. Now […]

Apr 10, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Electricity Board should have competitive bidding for all new plants, electricity users said at a public hearing, as an expensive plant that was ‘negotiated’ came under repeated fire from irate customers. Some diesel plants running reciprocating engines are selling power at a little over 20 rupees […]

Apr 07, 2013 (LBO) – Off-grid power users, who generate their own electricity in villages too remote for the national grid to reach, put rent-seeking big business and grid-connected householders to shame at a public hearing on a proposed tariff hike. Speaker after speaker, representing big business low user domestic customers and the renewable energy […]

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Apr 05, 2013 (LBO) – The calculation of subsidies to customer categories by Sri Lanka’s power regulator was flawed, as the cost of supply to bulk users was lower than retail and domestic customers who were at the tail end of the grid, a top energy expert has said. “I submit to the commission that […]

Apr 04, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s power utility should stop subsidizing places of religious worship which had their own methods of deriving income and some were operating commercial businesses, respondents at a hearing on a tariff hike said. “Places of worship are given power at very low rates and I do not think it […]

Apr 04, 2013 (LBO) – Costs claimed by Sri Lanka’s power monopoly Ceylon Electricity Board are murky, the efficiency of expensive plants and other costs are not independently audited, respondents at a public hearing on a proposed tariff hike said. Disallowing around 30 billion rupees from the tariff filing also raised more questions about cost […]

Apr 04, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should push harder on cutting peak power demand as ‘average’ costs are meaningless and trimming the most expensive 5.0 percent of energy has the potential to eliminate losses at Ceylon Electricity Board, a think tank has said.About 17 percent of the generation costs of state-run Ceylon Electricity Board […]

Apr 02, 2013 (LBO) – Industries will get an annual subsidy of nearly 15 billion rupees even after a tariff hike proposed from April, hotels will be marginally subsidized and customers classified as general purpose pay in excess of costs, an analysis by the regulator shows. A document prepared ahead of a public consultation scheduled […]

Apr 02, 2013 (LBO) – Hydro power generation has picked up sharply in Sri Lanka allowing state-run Ceylon Electricity Board to cut thermal power, while demand was barely growing in January 2013, official data shows.Total power generation in the month rose just 0.6 percent to 987 GigaWatt hours (millions of units of electricity) from a […]

Mar 31, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s power regulator had directed state-run Ceylon Electricity Board to cut penalties on late payers and also halted penal interest accruing after disconnection. The CEB has also been directed to come up with a plan to pay interest on customer security deposits held by the power firm.The power utility […]

Mar 30, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s combined cycle power plants which are supposed to be efficient and cheaper have turned out to be more expensive than internal combustion plants, published data show. According to a consultation document released by the Public Utilities Commission, Sri Lanka’s power regulator, private plants running IC engines including Heladanavi […]