The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has announced that a decision regarding the electricity tariff reduction for 2025 will be made before Friday (17).

PUCSL Director of Corporate Communications Jayanath Herath confirmed to The Sunday Morning that the commission was currently reviewing public submissions on the matter.

In the past, the Government proposed revising electricity tariffs four times a year. However, tariff revisions occurred thrice in 2023 and two revisions took place in 2024.

Herath explained that while the Government aimed for four revisions in 2025, the final number of revisions would depend on proposals from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).

The most recent tariff revision, implemented in July 2024, provided significant relief across all sectors. Notably, the domestic sector saw a 27% reduction, while religious places received a 30% cut.

Hotels and industrial sectors experienced a 25% reduction, with adjustments made to monthly fixed charges and unit prices based on different consumption levels.

The PUCSL also released the Electricity Tariff Revision – January 2025 document on 17 December 2024, which outlined the CEB’s proposal to maintain the current tariff structure for the first six months of 2025.

To ensure public participation, the PUCSL launched a public consultation process on electricity tariff revisions in December 2024. The oral consultation sessions concluded on Friday (10), with over 300 submissions received from across the country’s nine provinces.

Four newly appointed Supreme Court Justices took their oaths of office before President Anura Kumara Disanayake this morning (12) at the Presidential Secretariat.

The Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) revealed that a 20% excise tax increase on alcohol last year led to a staggering reduction of 8.3 million litres in alcohol consumption while boosting government revenue by Rs. 11.6 billion.

The Vehicle Importers’ Association of Sri Lanka has warned that import taxes on vehicles, currently about 300%, could rise further, with some luxury vehicles potentially seeing tax rates as high as 600%.

Singapore and Japan break away from the group of six countries that shared top spot last year to secure gold and silver, respectively, on the 2025 Henley Passport Index, which ranks all the world’s 199 passports according to the number of destinations they can access visa-free, and is based on exclusive Timatic data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Senior Professor of Forensic Medicine at Karapitiya Hospital U.C.P Perera said it was a matter of serious concern that the fatalities in road accidents have been increasing at a large proportion every year and that 118,240 road accidents had occurred in Sri Lanka for the last five years up to December 2024 claiming 12,140 human lives.

In a bid to address the salt shortage, chairman of National Salt Limited Gayan Wellala said plans are underway to fully activate the saltern including one in Elephant Pass in the north by March, this year to increase production of salt in the country

The deadline for importing rice ended at midnight yesterday, with a total of 167,000 MT of rice imported to Sri Lanka since the government allowed the imports. The Sri Lanka Customs reported that this includes 66,000 MT of Red Raw Rice and 101,000 MT of Parboiled Rice.

The traders in several areas of the upcountry yesterday demonstrated demanding the supply of adequate stocks of Nadu and Red rice varieties in view of the Thai Pongal festive season. A number of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim traders from Agarapathana, Manrasi and Dayagama in the Nuwara-Eliya District participated.

While issuing a special gazette notification, the government announced an excise duty percentage on all vehicles imported starting in February, following the resumption of vehicle imports after a five-year suspension.

Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, has been arrested. Police said that he was arrested in connection with an incident involving the assault of a neighbor. He was arrested by the Mirihana Police and is scheduled to be produced in court.