The Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Privilege: Presentation of inaccurate facts about the Ceylon Electricity Board

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, I raise this matter as a breach of privilege.

¶ 03 On 2025.01.09, I questioned the Minister of Power and Energy regarding a reduction of electricity tariffs. As a supplementary, I stated that the CEB earned a profit of Rs. 167 billion in 2024. The Minister rejected this and claimed the CEB was burdened with Rs. 332 billion in debt, asking me to prove the profit.

¶ 04 At that point, the Chair of the Committee on Public Finance, Dr. Harsha de Silva, stated that according to the Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report 2024, page 36, the CEB had earned Rs. 119.209 billion in profit as at 2024.06.30. Thus, information already presented to Parliament shows profits, and placing contrary data misleads Parliament and violates my privilege as an MP.

¶ 05 Further, letters exchanged between the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka and the CEB show that from 2024 January 24 to 2024 December 24, CEB’s profit was around Rs. 140.59 billion, and with Rs. 37 billion from depreciation, total profit for 2024 is Rs. 177.6 billion.

¶ 06 The National Audit Office, in its 2024.12.30 audit query, clearly states that finance costs related to losses were included in these calculations. From the document “Equity Support to CEB from Government,” I quote in brief: In 2022 Q2 and Q3, equity investments of Rs. 45,000 million and Rs. 35,000 million respectively for CPC fuel payments; 2022 Q3 Rs. 1,215 million for the Puttalam Coal Power Project; 2022 Q3 Rs. 9,612 million for debt-equity conversion; 2022 Q4 Rs. 119,260 million for Puttalam Coal Power; 2022 Q4 Rs. 242,000 million for debt-equity conversion; and 2023 Q4 Rs. 126,271 million as equity for CPC fuel. Altogether, the Government/Treasury has borne Rs. 578.376 billion to cover CEB’s losses. It is also clear that from 2022 Q2 to 2023 Q4, Rs. 206.271 billion was provided as equity investment for CPC fuel. Therefore, claiming that the CEB is burdened with Rs. 332 billion in debt is totally baseless. I table this report.

¶ 07 From 2013, failure to carry out necessary tariff revisions, and losses due to corruption, irregularities and negligence at the CEB have been borne by the Treasury and the people. Therefore, the Rs. 177.6 billion profit I stated is correct. Yet tariff revisions were delayed, information was withheld, and last year CEB staff received a 25% salary increment.

¶ 08 In 2023, 14% of 7.5 million consumers had electricity disconnected for inability to pay. That is 977,933 consumers – monthly 80,911; daily 2,660. In 2024 Q1, it was worse: 30% (628,286) disconnected; daily 3,443; monthly 104,714. These are struggling people. Hence we urged tariff reductions repeatedly last year.

¶ 09 The President promised to reduce tariffs by one-third both during and after the campaign. Several Ministers promised likewise. But the Power Minister told this House no one made such a promise and that reductions are possible only in three years. The PUCSL has now, after island-wide consultations with consumers, professionals and representatives, recommended a 20% reduction. We too made representations.