Consumers to receive an “all details” electricity bill
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka has requested the Ceylon
Electricity Board to provide all information pertaining to the
calculation of electricity bills, including taxes, subsidies and any
other charges related to electricity consumed, Director General of PUCSL
Damitha Kumarasinghe in a media release states.
The consumers of electricity have a right to receive the basis of the
computation of the electricity bill. Also they have a right to know the
taxes, subsidies and any other charges related to electricity consumed.
With the view to safeguarding this right of the electricity consumer
Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka proposed a new electricity bill
format in consultation with Ceylon Electricity Board, Lanka Electricity
Company Ltd and the electricity consumers and conducted a consumer
survey on the proposed new electricity bill format.
One objective of the survey was to obtain opinion from a cross
section of consumers on the proposed bill format so as to ascertain
their preferences for respective information provided through proposed
format. Also the survey tried to assess the consumers’ ability to
understand the information provided and to obtain their suggestions for
improvement the proposed format.
Through this survey the electricity consumers both domestic and
industrial have suggested that further information should be provided
through their monthly bills. The main requirements are;
The detailed calculation of the monthly electricity bill. The
Domestic Consumers suggest to include the details such as block wise
calculation of electricity bill.
The details about the cost of electricity such as generation cost,
transmission cost and distribution cost. Subsidies provided by the
Government and surcharges.
After reviewing the survey findings, PUCSL has communicated to Ceylon
Electricity Board and Lanka Electricity Company Ltd on the findings of
the survey and requested to commence the provision of above mentioned
information through the proposed new electricity bill format.
Accordingly once commenced, the electricity consumer can know the
detailed calculation of the monthly electricity bill. At the initial
phase of implementation detailed calculation for the previous month
consumption will appear in the current bill.
In addition, when a new tariff revision is effected, a separate
leaflet to be issued to active customers including following details:
New Tariff Structure
Forecasted cost of electricity including generation, transmission and
distribution costs with a clear display of the subsidies to be provided
by the government.
|