The great solar hoax of the CEB

An associate of mine who owns a medium sized coastal resort invested Rs. 15 million in solar panels to generate electricity for the national grid, trusting the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to pay him for the electricity generated, as promised by the Board. The solar panels have been working well and are generating close to 100 KW of electricity. But to the shock of my associate, and I understand to a large number of others in a similar situation, the CEB has been delaying payments for several months on end, while at the same time, insisting on timely payments for the electricity used, charging interest on delayed payments and threatening to disconnect supply if payment of electricity bills is delayed.

Isn’t this a case of disgraceful duplicity by a government institution that while enjoying a monopoly has been mollycoddled, subsidised and accommodated in its inefficiency by successive governments? The country is starved for electricity and its citizens are investing precious funds to generate solar power for the grid but the CEB doesn’t have the decency to pay them for the power supplied. Adding insult to injury, I understand that representatives of the CEB are calling solar power generators and asking them to expand their generation capacity. Absolute perfidy!