Consumers to receive an “all details” electricity bill

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka has requested the Ceylon Electricity Board to provide all information pertaining to the calculation of electricity bills, including taxes, subsidies and any other charges related to electricity consumed, Director General of PUCSL Damitha Kumarasinghe in a media release states.

The consumers of electricity have a right to receive the basis of the computation of the electricity bill. Also they have a right to know the taxes, subsidies and any other charges related to electricity consumed. With the view to safeguarding this right of the electricity consumer Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka proposed a new electricity bill format in consultation with Ceylon Electricity Board, Lanka Electricity Company Ltd and the electricity consumers and conducted a consumer survey on the proposed new electricity bill format.

One objective of the survey was to obtain opinion from a cross section of consumers on the proposed bill format so as to ascertain their preferences for respective information provided through proposed format. Also the survey tried to assess the consumers’ ability to understand the information provided and to obtain their suggestions for improvement the proposed format.

Through this survey the electricity consumers both domestic and industrial have suggested that further information should be provided through their monthly bills. The main requirements are;

The detailed calculation of the monthly electricity bill. The Domestic Consumers suggest to include the details such as block wise calculation of electricity bill.

The details about the cost of electricity such as generation cost, transmission cost and distribution cost. Subsidies provided by the Government and surcharges.

After reviewing the survey findings, PUCSL has communicated to Ceylon Electricity Board and Lanka Electricity Company Ltd on the findings of the survey and requested to commence the provision of above mentioned information through the proposed new electricity bill format.

Accordingly once commenced, the electricity consumer can know the detailed calculation of the monthly electricity bill. At the initial phase of implementation detailed calculation for the previous month consumption will appear in the current bill.

In addition, when a new tariff revision is effected, a separate leaflet to be issued to active customers including following details:

New Tariff Structure

Forecasted cost of electricity including generation, transmission and distribution costs with a clear display of the subsidies to be provided by the government.

 

Courtesy: Daily News