Two Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions were filed before the Supreme Court today, challenging the recent electricity tariff hike.
One petition was lodged by Asoka Abeygunawardana against several respondents, including the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) and its members, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Lanka Electricity Company (LECO).
Abeygunawardena filed the FR petition in his capacity as a citizen of Sri Lanka, as well as in the interest of the general public, and majorly challenged the process through which the members of PUCSL made the decision on the recent electricity tariff hike, excluding PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake.
He claimed that the decision in question was ‘ultra vires, unreasonable, irrational, arbitrary, evidently biased and in violation of legitimate expectations of his rights and other electricity consumers’.
The engineer, who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Energy Forum, further claimed that the tariff hike imposed for the lower units could cause ‘irreparable damage’ to the low-income sectors, emphasizing that the PUCSL is bound to ensure that the interests of all consumers are being considered when approving such revisions.
He stated this while explaining that increases such as 275% for units between 0 – 30, 270% for units between 31 – 60 and 162.5% for units between 61 – 90 could result in low-income earners, including himself, not being able to consume electricity at all.
Abeygunawardana’s FR petition will be instructed by Attorney-at-Law J D Ariyanayagam and supported by President’s Counsel M. A. Sumanthiran, Attorney-at-Law Viran Corea.
The second petition was filed by the Electricity & Renewable Energy Consumers’ Association, Ven. Matara Ananda Sagara Thero and four others, claiming that the electricity tariff revision approved by the PUCSL members on February 15 is arbitrary, wrongful, discriminatory, irrational and unreasonable.
They stressed that the move disproportionately affects low-income people who consume between 0-90 kWh per month.
The petitioners allege that the PUCSL and its members have approved the 2023 tariff revision proposed by the CEB in its entirety which makes no change to the energy charge for high-consumption users of electricity, and without subscribing to the statutory process specifically set out in the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009, which casts a duty on the PUCSL and its members to protect the interests of all consumers.
This FR petition is supported by President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris with Attorneys-at-Law Niranjan Arulpragasam and Suren Gnanaraj, instructed by Attorney-at-Law Manjula Balasooriya.
