News
Shock for CEB: Rs. 14.6bn not paid by consumers
View(s):By Niranjala Ariyawansha
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has revealed that domestic consumers such as households, small-scale businesses and organisations and bulk consumers including large government and other institutions have defaulted bill payments to the tune of Rs. 14.6 billion by June 30 this year.
It said Rs. 9.56 billion of the dues were from the Ordinary Domestic category.
The amount due from Bulk Suppliers is Rs. 4.5 billion, of which Rs. 2.1 billion had not been paid for more than a year.
A top CEB official said that since the collection of the arrears was vital for the daily operation of the CEB under the current economic crisis, electricity consumers should settle their dues soon.
Electricity is supplied by the CEB to the Bulk Supply sector under several tariff categories. They include sectors such as industries, health, the armed forces, police, and tourist hotels.
According to CEB data, by June 30, industries have defaulted in payments amounting to Rs. 2.7 billion.
The next highest outstanding amount of Rs. 870 million has to be paid by government institutions. This amount is due from the military, Police, Health and Medical Services, Education, Local Authorities, and the Sri Lanka Railway.
The official said Rs. 697 million was due from hotels or small institutions which belong to the General Purpose category.Tourist hotels owe Rs. 196 million.
Religious institutions have to pay Rs. 25 million. The electricity bills of certain prominent religious places under the Bulk Supply category have up to now been paid by the CEB. The electricity tariff of all other religious places is currently a small amount. However, this facility has been suspended from October 1 and religious places have been informed that their electricity bills will have to be paid by themselves, the official said.
With the CEB increasing the tariff from September 1, a tariff hike of more than 500 percent has been imposed on religious institutions. “Due to the low tariff, many religious institutions have their electric bulbs on for 24 hours a day without any responsibility,” he alleged.
The consumers in the Ordinary Domestic category have been given a credit period of one month to pay their bills.
Due to Covid-19 and the subsequent economic crisis, this period of credit for settling electricity bills has been extended up to two months since June. Bills that are not paid after two months will have interest added to them.
However, the credit period for Bulk Supply is only 15 days. After that period, interest will be added to the bills.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!