CEB promises to settle Renewable Energy sector dues soon

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has not discriminated nor cold shoulder the Renewable Energy sector and CEB treats them as a huge asset to the country, said Acting General Manager of CEB and senior engineer D. C. R. Abeysekera.

Speaking to ‘Daily News Business’ on the accusation by Renewable Energy Associations that over Rs. 22 billion due to them have not been paid he said that this was true. “The CEB is currently facing huge financial issues and due to this we had to delay their payments along with several other such payments.”

He said that the CEB on several occasions had met the Renewable Energy Associations and briefed them on this. “CEB now has to settle a few aggravated payments due to coal imports and once this is addressed we will look at the settlement of Renewable Energy Associations payments.”

D. C. R. Abeysekera, a senior engineer, said that they are very keen to nurse and promote the Renewable Energy sector as it is the cheapest source of power to them. “We never want to discourage this sector but want to promote this sector. We have also taken several steps to woo more investments in this area. One such step is to provide clearance online for projects.”

CEB’s current average cost of a unit of electricity delivered to consumers is estimated to be Rs. 60 as of April 20 2022 while the tariff rate from consumers is lower. “Hence there is great mismatch and this is accumulating to huge losses. In addition the escalating fuel prices too have added to the CEB bottom line.”

“One way to overcome this is to revise traffic which will increase revenue to CEB and the Public Utilities Commission (PUCSL) has given the green light to this.”