CEB decision:

Street lamps over to local bodies

by Gamini Warushamana

Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) last week took another radical decision to reduce its operational losses and the Minister of Power and Energy Champika Ranawaka said that the CEB will not bear the cost of street lighting in the future.

He said that power is wasted due to various issues in the street lighting system. We receive complaints from the public regarding street lights that are on even in broad daylight.

Since there is no cost some local authorities do not maintain the system properly to reduce the waste of electricity. The total cost borne by the CEB on street lighting is over Rs. 1.5 billion annually, the Minister said.

He said that officially there are around 340,000 street lights installed by the CEB in Local Authority areas islandwide. However, electricity consumption in the CEB street lighting system is estimated as 150 GWh per year. Accordingly, 52GWh electricity consumption of street lighting is unaccounted for and added to the CEB system losses. Therefore, going by the electricity consumption, the number of street lights installed can be around 400,000 and it is clear that there are unauthorised installations.

Street lighting is a service that the government or local authority should deal with. The cost of such public goods should be also borne by a government agency. It is finally borne by the public or the taxpayers.

Electricity consumption in street lighting is significantly high compared to the total national consumption of 900GWh per annum. This costs the CEB Rs. 1.5 billion and the amount adds to the operational loss of the CEB. To make the CEB a profitable venture, all these costs should be recovered. Theoretically, the Treasury should pay this cost to the CEB but practically due to the fiscal position of the Government none of these payments is transferred to State institutions.

The CEB recently agreed to pay the huge debt it owes to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation for the purchase of oil to generate thermal power. People have different views on the decision of the CEB.

The Member of the Kalutara Pradeshiya Sabha said that this decision is unjustified. He said that according to the Electricity Board Act, the CEB should provide electricity for street lighting up to 3 percent of its revenue.

This is a public service and all local authorities will be against the decision. However, the Member Nilantha Chandralal of the same Pradeshiya Sabha said that it has revenue to pay the electricity cost for the street lighting. People have expressed reservations over the ability of the local authorities to pay the bills.

The decision of the Ministry of Power and Energy follows a study carried out by the CEB.

The Ministry said that there is no policy or administrative or technical guidlines on street lighting and the only document available is a circular issued in 1994.

The street lighting system in the country has issues such as unauthorised street lamps, non-availability of energy metering, substandard fittings and accessories, safety issues, day burning, light pollution, public issues, lack of investments and absence of a standard and regulatory framework, the report said.