Sri Lanka’s Parliament has passed the latest Electricity Bill, which seeks to reform the power sector and increase the country’s renewable energy capability.
The Bill was passed with 103 lawmakers voting in favour and 59 against. The Bill seeks to provide for the setting up of the National Electricity Advisory Council and make the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka the regulator for the electricity sector. It calls for the unbundling of the state power entity, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), into eight units, which will be responsible for generation, transmission, distribution, trade, supply and procurement of electricity. CEB is one of the main state entities that the International Monetary Fund wishes to be reformed in the ongoing bailout programme.