Sri Lanka : Energy Minister & CEB at loggerheads over tariff hike

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka's Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera is at logger heads with the Ceylon Electricity Board.

In a series of tweets, the Minister said he will NOT be taking the CEB request to increase electricity tariff rates to the Cabinet of Ministers, as the CEY does not assist the renewable energy generation plans.

He said the CEB should allow renewable energy projects to proceed and reduce generation costs, rather than increasing tariffs to pay their own salaries.

The Minister said the CEB has a collective agreement that their salaries would be increased by 25% every three years.

"With no plans for renewable energy or cost reduction in generation, the high cost of salaries and generation costs are put on the consumers," he tweeted adding that this needs to change.