Power plants too old and Unit price is not economical: Ravi
However, the President, the Prime Minister and I came to a decision not to increase the electricity charges under any circumstances
At least Rs.22.33 cost to generate one unit of electricity and we sell a unit at a price of Rs.16.77. So we are running at a loss. The installed electricity generation capacity in the country was 4,025 megawatts (MW)
The power plants which generate electricity are more than 35 years old and they cost around Rs.35 to Rs.40 to generate each unit of electricity, Power and Energy Minister Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday.
“At least Rs.22.33 cost to generate one unit of electricity and we sell a unit at a price of Rs.16.77. So we are running at a loss. The installed electricity generation capacity in the country was 4,025 megawatts (MW). Hydro power plants generate 1,391 kw of electricity, Thermal power generates 604 MW, coal power plants generate 900 MW of electricity and about 1,400 MW is being generated from private sector. If the issues could be resolved we could sell at a cost of Rs.7 or Rs.8,” Minister Karunanayake said.
He said the CEB needs to rectify the issues to grant benefit for the people. “otherwise, people will have to pay a huge tariff,” he said.
We need to generate electricity 100 percent. The CEB engineers had come up with a plan to increase the production capacity.
However, the President, the Prime Minister and I came to a decision not to increase the electricity charges under any circumstances. “We have a challenge with the countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Maldives and Nepal with the generation of electricity. Those countries generates one unit of electricity at a cost of 50 percent than our country,” he said. We would not be able to challenge other countries with that situation, the Minister added.
This was my fresh appointment as the Power and Energy Minister and I need to study the situation here, he said. “I have to discuss with the President, Prime minister, the Secretary and the engineers about future action which we could take to implement the projects and need to get the approval from them,” he said.