The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Proposed National Electricity Policy

¶ 02 Mr. Speaker, the present Government formulated a policy to make Sri Lanka the country with the lowest electricity prices in the region by shifting generation away from oil towards lower-cost renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydro, and to increase solar generation progressively. However, after coming to power, abandoning its electoral pledge to reduce electricity bills to ease the economic burden on the people, the Government appears to be acting contrary to public aspirations. Therefore, to obtain clarity, I pose the following questions to the Government:

¶ 03 1. Has the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) applied to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to increase electricity tariffs by 11.57% for the first quarter of 2026 with the objective of bridging CEB losses?

¶ 04 2. Given that such an increase would raise electricity costs for low- and middle-income households, small businesses, and public institutions, has the Government carried out an impact assessment? If so, will it be tabled?

¶ 05 3. What are the reasons for the Government’s failure to fulfill the election pledges to reduce electricity bills by one-third and to introduce a transparent tariff methodology? Why is the Government disregarding the hardships caused to the public?

¶ 06 4. Regarding the new energy policy the Government plans to present, does the Government consider the period for public consultation to be fair, given that the entire country has been affected by a disaster situation? Should the period not be extended? Has a technical and economic analysis of the new policy been conducted? Will it be tabled?

¶ 07 5. Under the new energy policy, is there an intention to remove cross-subsidies? If so, has a comprehensive study of the impacts on each consumer category been conducted? Removing cross-subsidies benefits high-consuming, wealthier users while currently supporting the poor, religious places, and competitiveness of small industries. Will comparative reports be presented to Parliament if this is to be removed?

¶ 08 6. Under the new policy, will payments for renewable energy be shifted to a time-of-use (ToU) basis? If so, has a technical study been conducted? CEB has proposed peak at Rs. 67/kWh and off-peak at Rs. 21/kWh. As a result, consumers could be forced to pay more than the revenue earned from selling generation, undermining rooftop solar consumers’ ability to service loans.

¶ 09 7. Will the Government change pricing mechanisms for wind, small hydro and biomass under the policy? Will there be any curtailment when integrating such power into the national grid? If so, how, and will legally contracted entities be compensated?