The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Hon. Ravi Karunanayake questioned the Prime Minister on the Ceylon Electricity Board’s 2024 financial position, citing Rs. 615 billion in revenue against Rs. 470 billion in expenditure, and asked how the surplus would be used to reduce debt, improve efficiency, reduce overheads, and lower tariffs. He sought clarification on government plans to expand commercially viable renewable energy, address regulatory changes affecting battery storage procurement, and whether electricity tariffs would be increased despite the reported CEB surplus.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I pose the following questions to the Hon. Prime Minister regarding the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB):
¶ 02 1) As per 2024 accounts, total expenditure was Rs. 470 billion and revenue Rs. 615 billion. What steps will the Government take to use the surplus to reduce debt and improve efficiency? Given increases in transmission, distribution and institutional costs to 8.5 percent of total costs, what measures will be taken to reduce overheads and pass benefits to consumers via lower tariffs?
¶ 03 2) In 2024, renewable energy accounted for 51 percent of generation at a cost of Rs. 72.41 billion, while thermal was 49 percent at a cost of Rs. 272 billion. Will the Government re-establish viable commercial frameworks to scale renewables without foreign exchange outflows?
¶ 04 3) Battery storage has effectively been curtailed by regulation: applications have been removed and procurement lifetimes reduced from 20 to 10 years. What is the reason?
¶ 05 4) With a CEB surplus, will electricity tariffs be increased again?
¶ 06 Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 10 September 2025 ·No. 1758017450079419 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 10 September 2025. No. 1758017450079419. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/10662