WEB DESK
Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has submitted a proposal to revise the electricity tariff to the Parliament. The revision will be effective from July this year. The reduction of tariffs will be a breather to the common man as the island nation had seen sharp increases in power tariffs over the last year. Earlier yesterday, the Parliament had voted on a resolution to remove the Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission Janaka Ratnayake.
AIR correspondent reports that speaking at the parliament Power Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said, over 17 lakh families will receive the benefit, while families in the lower slabs would receive a minimum of 23 percent relief. The move comes as the Lankan rupee had appreciated since its lows in February this year. So far the rupee has appreciated by over 16 percent against the dollar making imports cheaper. Earlier this month, the power minister tweeted that the government would revise the power tariff in line with the cost-reflective pricing that is being followed. Further, the slashing of the price will give some respite to the Ranil Government after a slew of unpopular reform measures had been implemented over the last year.
The power tariff was raised by 66 percent in February this year after the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka had approved the proposal to hike the tariff, while the chairman had dissented on it.
