New Electricity Tariffs: Only 7.29% of Consumers Affected

COLOMBO (News 1st); Against the backdrop of ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Sri Lanka has brought into effect the revised electricity tariffs for the second and third quarters of this year starting today (11).

Minister of Energy Anura Karunathilaka said the latest electricity tariff increase will affect only 7.29 percent of the country’s electricity consumers. He emphasized that there will be no increase for domestic users consuming between 0 and 180 units of electricity.

However, consumers who use more than 181 units will see a rise in their monthly bills. A household consuming 210 units will see its electricity bill increase from the existing Rs. 9,570 to Rs. 11,330, an increase of Rs. 1,760.

Similarly, consumers using 240 units will face an increase of Rs. 2,210, raising their bill from Rs. 12,120 to Rs. 14,330.

Domestic users consuming 270 units will see their bills rise by Rs. 2,660, while those using 300 units will face an increase of Rs. 3,110.

Explaining the reasons behind the revision, Minister Karunathilaka said that actual power generation costs for the second quarter of 2026 have exceeded the projections previously approved by the Public Utilities Commission.

As a result, a tariff revision became unavoidable.

He noted that diesel expenditure was initially forecast at Rs. 417 million but has since escalated to Rs. 6,257 million. In addition, hydropower generation is expected to decline due to insufficient rainfall, reducing anticipated electricity output from hydro sources.

Naphtha costs, which were earlier estimated at Rs. 8,647 million, have increased to Rs. 11,686 million.

Due to increased costs across multiple generation sources, total estimated generation costs for the current quarter have risen to Rs. 104,449 million from the earlier estimate of Rs. 77,432 million, reflecting an increase of Rs. 27,016 million.

Consequently, the Ministry sought approval from the Public Utilities Commission for an 18 percent tariff increase.

Sri Lanka currently has 7,913,820 electricity consumers, of whom 6,751,133 are domestic users. Among domestic consumers, 6,429,757 households consume less than 180 units of electricity and will not be affected by the tariff increase.

The minister also highlighted that there are 49,906 electricity connections for religious institutions. Of these, 38,566 institutions consume less than 180 units and will not face any increase.

Overall, the minister stressed that only about 7.29 percent of total electricity consumers will be impacted by the revised tariffs.

Addressing concerns over coal-related issues, Minister Karunathilaka clarified that financial losses arising from problems linked to coal quality have not been included in the tariff increase. He said provisions already exist within tender procedures to recover such losses from the relevant companies and that action is being taken accordingly.