Solar to save Rs.547 mn for CEB this year | Daily News

Solar to save Rs.547 mn for CEB this year

Electricity bill concession for COVID lockdown
6.7 mn CEB consumers to benefit

Power and Energy Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) could save Rs.547million by the end of this year as a result of purchasing solar power at minimum rates under the competitive bidding system.

“Rs.10 can be saved from one unit of solar power purchased by the CEB under this system. The saving from one Megawatt amounts to Rs.50,000. The amount saved by the CEB per day due to competitive bidding for the purchase of solar power is Rs.750,000,” he said.

The Minister further said the Government has approved the purchase of another 150 Megawatts of solar power for the third quarter of this year.

“In order to cater to the growing needs and demands of electricity, measures have been taken to encourage the use of solar energy which is a healthy option that would prevent environmental pollution and in parallel, meet the demand for electricity,” he added.He was speaking at a progress review meeting at the Ministry on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the CEB said each consumer’s electricity bill in February or the lowest electricity bill in the months of March, April or May will apply to all the three months due to the Corona virus outbreak. The CEB said this concession would be provided to all 6.7 million electricity consumers of the country, adding that the total amount of this concession would amount to Rs.3 billion.

For the customers who had already paid the bills, any excess payments they had made would be deducted from the bills charged for the coming months.The concession has been approved by the Cabinet.

“It had been previously estimated that the CEB would incur a loss of Rs.93 billion by the end of this year, but as a result of the progressive steps taken by the Government this loss can be reduced to Rs.63 billion,” the CEB said.


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