CEB proposal, a scheme to rob the poor and give the rich

Friday, 22 March 2013 

The Ceylon Electricity Board has proposed a proposal that will rob the poor while granting concessions the rich, the National Movement of Electricity Consumers said.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday (21), the Movement’s advisor Bandula Chandrasekara said that the proposed electricity tariff hike shows that not all consumers will be charged the same.

He noted that while the commercial sector will see a price hike of 10% the industry sector will see to a price hike of 20%.

Noting that this is a death blow to the industry sector, he added that small and medium Enterprises, which comprise of 99% of the business ventures in the country, will be the effected most.

Noting that this is against the government’s policy of supporting the SME sector, Mr. Chandrasekara further emphasized that while a small grocery store will see to a 8-9% price hike in the electricity bill, a supermarket will only see a prices hike of 5%.

But it is the domestic consumer who will be hit the worst as the price hike of the domestic line will be around 68%, he said.

Noting that 75% of the population’s domestic electricity usage is below 90 units, Mr. Chandrasekara said that the price hike proposal would increase the CEB bill of the poor by 60% -100%.

For the first time in history, officials have taken measured to decrease bills of the poor by twofold and decrease those of the squandering rich.

Adding that the proposed price hike scheme was banned by the Supreme Court in 2008 as it was proved to be unsuccessful, Mr. Chandrasekara further said that therefore this scheme was illegal.

Courtesy - Mirror.lk