The Government will spend Rs. 9 billion annually to provide the electricity bill relief concession which came into effect on November 10. The relief includes Rs. 30 per cent relief for any electricity consumer who consumes electricity units below 90.

In addition , a 15 per cent electricity bill relief has also been given to industries, hotels and religious places. The Government is of the view that 4.8 million electricity consumers in the country will benefit with the implementation of the reduction of electricity bills even though there has been a looming energy crisis, the Power and Energy Ministry said.

Power and Energy Minister W.D.J.Seneviratne told The Island Financial Review that President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his budget proposals had mentioned that the current rates of the electricity bills to be reduced by 30 per cent from domestic consumption and 15 per cent from industrial consumption. President Rajapaksa had already instructed the Power and Energy Ministry to implement the bill relief with effect from November 10.

He pointed out that 65 per cent of the power generation process was mainly dependent on diesel and due to oil price escalations the Government was constrained to spend Rs. 19.40 to generate one unit of electricity. As a result, the Government thought of introducing an electricity bill revision and the rates of bills had to be changed.

Minister Seneviratne emphasized that in the 2009 budget President Rajapaksa had taken a wise decision to reduce one litre of crude oil up to Rs.45 and it was a great relief to the Power and Energy Ministry. Although the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) was running at a loss in the face of looming energy crisis it would not halt the number of projects commenced to supply electricity.

Referring to the ongoing construction of major power generation plants, Minister Seneviratne outlined that the Kerawalapitiya power plant would be capable of generating 300 MW and they would be added to the National Grid subsequently. In the first phase the plant would generate 200 MW of electricity and in 2009 it would be able to generate the other 100 MW. The commissioning of the Kerawalapitiya plant was instrumental in averting a major power crisis in Sri Lanka.

Minister Seneviratne said that the Government was of the opinion that large-scale industrial complexes, factories, small and medium scale industries had been the main sources of revenue to the Government in electricity consumption. A considerable relief measure to such industries was of paramount importance as they were able to contribute parts of earnings to maintain the national economy.