COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s state-run electricity monopoly will raise tariffs by a stinging 264 per cent for people consuming the least, it announced Tuesday, while higher users will face a smaller increase.
The loss-making Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said the regulator had allowed it to carry out the sharp increases, the first in nine years, from Wednesday to recoup part of its accumulated losses of $616 million.
The CEB had asked for a bigger tariff increase of over 800 per cent, but the regulator capped it at a maximum of 264 per cent, officials said.
Two-thirds of the 7.8 million households using less than 90 kilowatts a month will be affected by the highest increases, while bigger consumers will pay about 80 percent more, according to official records.
