Stay the Electricity Tariff Hike Consumers Association petitions the Supreme Court.

The Electricity and Renewable Energy Consumers Association and five others today filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking an order staying the operation of the portion of the Electricity Tariff Revision 2023 approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for the category of domestic consumption.

The petitioners state that, as per the proposed CEB tariff revision for 2023, with respect to domestic consumption, the CEB has in effect proposed that the low-consumption users of electricity, who are typically from low-income households, ought to subsidise the high-consumption users of electricity, who are typically from higher-income families.

The petitioners state that, to their utmost surprise, the PUCSL decided to accept and approve the CEB's proposed tariff revision 2023 without any changes, resulting in an overall tariff increase of over 66%.

The petitioners' further state that the PUCSL and authorities have failed to provide any reasons or justifications for their decision to impose an unjust tariff hike on low-consumption users of electricity in the blocks of 0–30 kWh, 31–60 kWh, and 61–90 kWh.

The petitioners state that the right to access electricity is a basic and important human right that is interlinked with the fundamental right to life as recognized under our Constitution.