By Chaminda Silva
Star class hotels and some institutions obtaining power from LECO have been made exempt from the Social Security Contribution Levy (SSCL), the General Secretary of Electricity Consumers Union Sanjeewa Dhammika says.This has exempted a number of high value consumers from the levy, he has said.
“Most people, who pay the SSCL, are those in the villages and those who are low-end consumers of electricity,” he said.
Dhammika said that while his association is supportive of increasing the tax base, he added that most of the taxes, introduced by the Wickremesinghe administration, are affecting the middle and lower classes, he said.
“What’s worse is that high income earners are excluded from many taxes. The SSCL, with regards to electricity, are the same. The government must try to strike a balance here. I understand you need to raise more money, but this must be done in a way that doesn’t make the life of the average citizen worse,” he said.
Dhammika added that while the electricity tariff has increased, the service provided by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has not improved.
“The CEB and the government have done nothing to address the long-term problems of the sector. What have we done about increasing renewables? The government has been talking about the need to boost renewables for months. How many megawatts of renewable electricity has been added to the grid this year?” he asked. Dhammika said the CEB can reduce the cost of electricity through increasing renewable energy sources.
“The CEB makes losses mainly because it buys a lot of units from thermal power plants. Also, the cost of coal is also increasing and we spend dollars to keep these plants running. If we increase renewable sources, we will be spending rupees. This will help our balance of payment crisis, too,” he said.