Suppliers like mini-hydros are paid on a set of published tariffs, based on avoided cost, or how much CEB saves by running hydro instead of a costly diesel plant.
The Treasury has agreed to pad up CEB’s average tariff of about Rs5.50 for a unit of dendro power, to Rs8.50 a unit, to increase returns for dendro-power producers.
The Treasury has already agreed to set aside Rs100 million for this scheme, and a first instalment of Rs25 million has been approved for this year, Ananda Gunasekera, Chairman of the Energy Conservation Fund (ECF), told LBO on Tuesday.
The funds will be routed through a new Sri Lanka Energy Fund that has been set up and will be managed by the ECF, though plans are to make the fund sustainable.
Options still being thrashed out include a tax of less than a rupee per litre on petroleum f