Consumers using less than 90 units:

Tariff relief to remain

Sandasen Marasinghe, Irangika Range and Disna Mudalige

The electricity tariff relief given to electricity consumers who use less than 90 units will be continued without any change, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said in Parliament yesterday.

The minister also observed that the electricity tariff has not been increased since 2008 for consumers who use less than 90 units.

He noted that as a percentage, 78 percent of the electricity consumers use below 90 units, and thereby entitled for this relief. The minister made this observation joining in the committee stage debate of the Appropriation Bill 2012 when the Finance Head of the Power and Energy Ministry were taken up.

The minister denying certain media reports said that the government has no plan to drop the relief criterium to 30 units, adding that the tariff relief criterium will remain at 90 units even in the future.

Ranawaka also stated that the power and energy sector will be modernized in line with modern technology and the power grid will be upgraded according to a medium term plan to sustain and resist to any weather pattern.

He also stated that the CEB Headquarters has collected Rs 236 million as fines by 8,452 spot investigations conducted from June 2010 to November 2011.

He also observed that the future of the power sector depends upon the renewable energy sources.

He said that understanding this reality the country's first ever wind power plant will be constructed in Mannar to generate 650 mw, adding that the country's first ever solar power plant was commissioned in Hambantota to generate 100 mw.