CEB's major defaulters remain at large, arrears mount
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB)’s unpaid dues from customers including from State institutions and MPs, stood at a whopping Rs 38.76bn at the end of February this year, while it continues to rack up arrears and issue fresh bills amounting to millions of rupees.
Bulk electricity consumers – general- purpose, industrial religious, Government, domestic, hotel and institutions under the Lanka Electricity Company Pvt Ltd – alone owe the CEB Rs 18.078bn, data shared by the utility shows.
Separately, unpaid retail electricity bills for Government and non-Government institutions are now at Rs 20.682 billion. Recent reports claimed that the bills of the official residences of MPs have not been settled for years, with the CEB turning a blind eye.
A senior CEB official denied these allegations, claiming that payments had piled up during the Covid- 19 lockdowns, and the Government gave a three- month grace period for bulk and retail consumers to clear their bills. He did not wish to be named.
On February 17,
2022, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) issued a directive to consumers who have defaulted on their bills to settle them within three months.
“Under the directive, power supply will be suspended to consumers who fail to settle the bills,” said Jayanath Herath, Director - Corporate Communications, PUCSL. The regulator also instructed the CEB to disconnect from the national grid largescale customers, including companies, and to let them use generators.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said he paid Rs 7.1mn out of the Rs 12.5mn owed for electricity consumption at his home in Sarana Road, off Bullers Road, this week. The CEB official confirmed this.
Eelam People’s Democratic Party ( EPDP) Leader and Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda has accumulated Rs 9.7 million in unpaid electricity bills for his EPDP office at Stanley Road, Jaffna, while Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Harin Fernando has run up arrears of Rs 1.8mn for his residence in Keppetipola Mawatha, Colombo 5, the CEB said.
But Mr Fernando in a letter on 28, 2022, claimed that the cited official residence was allocated to him when he was Minister of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure Facilities, Foreign Employment and Sports, under the previous administration. When his term ended in December 2019, he reportedly handed the house over to the Ministry of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government. Despite this, bills had continued to be issued under his name, running up arrears, he said.
Mr Fernando has requested the CEB to take relevant action and to shift the arrears to the name of the Minister who is currently living in the relevant official residence.