The news article presented by NewsFirst talked about how a local tariff on electricity is affecting the livelihood of low income citizens in Kalutara. On February 15th the Public Utilities Commission approved a 66% increase on the electricity tariff that would help generate additional income for Ceylon Electricity Board. This cost a lot of frustration with the locals in Kalutara because most of the citizens living there are on the border line of living in poverty and this new tariff is just making this worst. The approval of the tariff was already in question when the proposal came up. When this idea was introduced several members of the Public Utilities Commission resigned. However a day later new board members were appointed to the empty spots and the proposal was approved under new leadership.

One of the questions I have about this article is, why did the motion to increase the tariff get approved so quickly after board members resigned the previous day in fear of backlash from the public? If this proposal had that much issues that caused board members to resign, shouldn’t it be reviewed carefully and not voted on so hastefully?

Link to article: english.newsfirst.lk/…/kalutara-locals-use-torches-to-protest-against-tariff-hike

HR:Instagram to find the News Channel and english.newsfirst.lk/…/kalutara-locals-use-torches-to-protest-against-tariff-hike.