Ceylon Electricity Board says that 112 crore rupees has been paid to electricity consumers as interest for customer deposits in 2023.
The Ceylon Electricity Board informed the Supreme Court recently (13) that it is ready to pay interest for the year 2023 for the deposits collected by the Ceylon Electricity Board from the consumers in providing new electricity supply.
This notification was made when a fundamental rights petition filed by the Electricity and Renewable Energy Consumers Association was called on that day.
The petition was called before the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Messrs. S Thureiraja, Gamini Amarasekara and Yasanta Kodagoda.
At that time, the Deputy Solicitor General Nirmalan Wigneswaran, who appeared for the Ceylon Electricity Board, informed the court that the Ceylon Electricity Board is ready to pay an annual interest of 11.67% for the year 2023 for the deposit collected from the customers in providing new electricity connections.
He also informed that the Ceylon Electricity Board will pay the interest from January 2024.
The Supreme Court ordered that the relevant petition be called again on March 21 to find out whether this payment is properly implemented.
In 2017, the Sri Lanka Public Utilities Commission had recommended the method of paying interest for the security deposits received from the electricity consumers by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Lanka Electricity Company (LECO).
These recommendations were made to implement a privilege granted to electricity consumers according to Section 28 of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009.
According to that section, electricity service providers (CEB and LECO) must pay interest for the security deposits received from consumers at an interest rate determined by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka for customer security deposits.
Accordingly, for general electricity consumers (domestic and consumers whose monthly electricity demand is less than 42kVA (Kilo Volt Amperes), the interest should be calculated annually and the interest income should be adjusted in the consumer bill in January of the next year. For deposits of large-scale electricity consumers (consumers with monthly electricity demand of more than 42 kVA, interest should be calculated monthly and credited to the next month’s bill.
In case of revision of security deposit amount, it should be updated annually for general customers and monthly for large scale customers.
When the electricity customer cancels his electricity connection and account, the full deposit amount must be paid within one month after deducting the amount owed by the customer up to that date and the remaining security deposit with interest.
It had been announced at that time that the Sri Lanka Public Utilities Commission would announce the interest rate for each year in January of each year.
If customers face any problems while paying interest for safe deposits, they should first submit their complaints to their client-agency (CEB or LECO). If a satisfactory solution is not found for those complaints within a certain time, such problems can be submitted to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka for resolution.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka points out that non-payment of interest for security deposits of electricity consumers is a violation of the relevant section of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act.
