The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has questioned why the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) failed to submit its electricity tariff revision proposal to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) within the stipulated timeframe, an informed source said yesterday.
The PUCSL had directed the CEB to submit its tariff revision proposal by November 14, 2025. However, the CEB submitted the proposal only on December 29, well after the deadline, and the submission reportedly contained several errors and deficiencies.
The PUCSL subsequently requested corrections by January 8, 2026. However, the CEB was unable to submit a revised and complete proposal within the given period. As a result, the CEB was unable to implement an electricity tariff revision on this occasion.
Under the IMF-supported programme, the CEB is required to implement cost-reflective pricing at all times.
An IMF mission led by Evan Papageorgiou visited Colombo from January 22 to 28 and held discussions on the economic impact of Cyclone Ditwah. A source familiar with the discussions told the Daily Mirror that the IMF had inquired into the CEB’s failure to submit the tariff revision proposal on time. The IMF team was reportedly assured that the next submission would be made within the stipulated timeframe.
The CEB had sought an electricity tariff revision of 11.57 percent, effective from January 2026.
