The latest electricity tariff hike was a heartless move and it would hit the low income households hard with medium to long term negative development consequences, the UNP said yesterday.

While it was true that the CEB losses must be reduced to ease the pressure on the Treasury and slow down the massive buildup of debt to maintain macro stability, the way in which it should have been done was certainly not to burden the low income households who were anyway struggling to consume even what they did now and the tariff hike would certainly increase and deepen electricity poverty in Sri Lanka, UNP parliamentarian Harsha de Silva said in a statement.

Dr. de Silva said: "It is saddening to note that the spineless PUCSL had met the President and compromised its independence in agreeing to increase the tariffs by over 50 percent on households considered ‘electricity poor’, that is those who use less than 48 units per month, while increasing the tariff by a mere one percent on the super rich who consume more than 900 units.

De Silva said that the UNP noted with serious concern that the avenues for corruption in generating, transmitting and distributing electricity have not been addressed by the PUCSL as there were no requirements to bring transparency into the costs of the CEB. "Neither has the PUCSL addressed the issue of procurement of coal by a private company that was outside the remit of the regulator. It has not addressed the issue of renegotiating heat rates in some generating units, particularly Kerawalapitiya either.

"All this means that corruption will continue to flourish at the CEB. The only positive requirement was to set up a software based merit order dispatch scheme to check on petty corruption at the CEB on a daily basis. The PUCSL has let the public down and in reflection the time spent by the hundreds of people’s representatives, consumer groups, engineers and civil society organizations in participating in the public consultations was a total waste."