Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Janaka Ratnayake says the fellow members of the commission have rejected his proposal to increase the electricity tariff by 36% and has instead granted approval to increase the tariff by 66% as requested by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).

Ratnayake said the PUCSL reviewed the CEB proposal which would place an additional Rs. 287 billion annually on electricity consumers and he decided to reduce it to a more fair amount of Rs. 142 billion. However, the chairman said, other members of the commission Attorney at Law Chathurika Wijesinghe, Douglas Nanayakkara and S.G Senaratne opposed his proposal and rejected it.

Ratnayake called the new tariff hike set to be implemented from today as illegal and said it would put the public under severe pressure and will also have a severe impact on the entire economy. The Chairman said the fellow members have by granting permission to the exorbitant tariff hike has violated the Public Utilities Commission Act and the Sri Lanka Electricity Act.